Lobby groups are using full-out to press on the US government to block Raisi from the country, citing his role in the 1988 executions.
The critics are of those who criticize the Iranian administration in Washington plan to restrict the President Ebrahim Raisi’s trip to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) this autumn.
Lobbyists who are on Capitol Hill that reflect the beliefs from those in the Republican Party have called on the administration of President Joe Biden to refuse the Iranian chief of executive power as well as his entire delegation visas required for attending meetings at the UN Headquarters in New York.
The main argument in favor of visa limitations is that Raisi as deputy prosecutor in Tehran during 1988 had allegedly was a member of an execution committee that according to Western estimates, around 5 000 people death for political reasons. The people were denied the right to live the right to live “without having the option of appealing or to a just trial” Human rights advocates and opponents claim and point out that the former chief of the judiciary carried on his repression into later times.
The Iranian government has rejected such accusations, stressing that only those “counterrevolutionary” activists who had staged an armed uprising had received capital punishment. However, the US is not happy on Iran’s Iranian regime.
In the year 2019 in the period in the era of “maximum tension” policy, which was the norm under former President Donald Trump’s administration Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control included Raisi’s name in its sanctions list.
For the opposition to Tehran the situation is a valid justification to impose additional restrictions from the president of the Islamic Republic. The agitation stems from organizations that are part of the National Council of Resistance of Iran The political part of a left-wing dissident radical group and also members of the Republican line.
The White House has already been asked to take action by senators headed by Tom Cotton, as well as the former Trump White House officials, who anticipate to be back in power following the biden era.
In accordance with Arafat
A 1947 deal between US with the UN regarding the location and operation of the headquarters of the UN imposes very specific obligations upon Washington to guarantee the right of admission, movement, and residence for those who are admitted into New York. However it is true that there has been no guarantee that the US has always been able to say “no” to visitors who might be classified as an “threat threat to security of the nation”.
The most shocking incident is one of Ronald Reagan administration’s refusal to permit Yasser Arafat to participate in UNGA. UNGA at the UNGA in 1988. Secretary of State George Shultz did not approve travel documents for Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, accusing the leader of being involved in terrorist groups. The idea was mostly pushed by lobbyists against Iran and gained the support of Congress. Following such restrictions this UNGA session had to “move” to Switzerland.
While refusing visas to Iranians is a typical practice among US government officials, the possibility of them being tested on the top leaders within Iran’s Islamic Republic is still a new phenomenon. The majority of those affected by such restrictions have been statesmen of lower ranks. For instance just two years ago the sanctions were imposed against Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and in 2014, they were imposed on the newly appointed Permanent Representative of Iran to the Islamic Republic to the United Nations Hamid Abutalebi.
On the domestic level, discussion, the ban on the Iranian president’s visit to New York was indeed being developed, clearly by Trump’s staff. One of their members during that discussion, Richard Goldberg, who was part of the administration’s National Security Council, is currently urging the White House to not accept hospitality from Raisi partly due to rising suspicions in the American intelligence community that Iranian agents have set up an underground network in and around the United States.
in the limelight
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A recent survey from the think tank Data for Progress found nearly two thirds of American citizens (67 percent) support a renewed nuclear agreement with Iran and, strangely to say that 56 percent of those in people in the Republican camp. A majority of voters prefer that the Iranian Atom problem regardless of the path it has been on in recent months, can be solved through diplomacy, rather than by a violent approach with 78 percent of the respondents opposed 12 percent.
In addition, the majority favors an Congress that gives the president the freedom to discuss with Iran and not hinder diplomacy by pushing for party ideologies.
The pre-election environment could make it difficult to predict whether there is a chance that White House will decide to apply visa restrictions to Raisi and her visit to the United States could also provide an opportunity to open feedback channels between countries. Another concern is whether the situation will strengthen its credibility as a US sanctions system where reservations frequently must be issued in order to engage in any dialog. Additionally, what causes curiosity is the way lobbyists for Iran’s political enemies are likely to behave.
We should not ignore the possibility that any “hawkish” discussion in the US can exacerbate the angst among those in the Iranian establishment, some of which criticize Raisi or his negotiators over the content in the dossier discussions.
The Iranian president managed to ease tensions when he decided not to travel to New York because of the epidemic, but his choice to participate in an UNGA session has put his diplomacy in the glare of those who criticize Tehran and leaves an opportunity for retraction.
