Letter from the 'United Against a Nuclear Iran' Organization to the U.S. Secretary of State: Do Not Grant Visa to Amir-Abdollahian

Mark Wallace, the director of the 'United Against a Nuclear Iran' organization, on Wednesday, April 22, wrote a letter to Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, urging him to deny the visa request of Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Iranian Foreign Minister, for entry into the United States. The Iranian Foreign Minister is scheduled to attend a meeting at the United Nations in New York on April 18 regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict. In his letter to Blinken, Wallace stated that 'the U.S. government has repeatedly granted him a visa despite Amir-Abdollahian's oppressive behavior on U.S. soil,' adding, 'He has threatened the United States and spoken against America and Jews during his time in New York.' He continued, 'The Tehran regime has intensified its brutal domestic repression in Iran, and the number of executions in the country has increased; therefore, we remain concerned about the overly generous visa policy of the U.S. State Department towards Iranian government officials who are partners in terrorism and repression.' The director of the 'United Against a Nuclear Iran' organization also noted to the U.S. Secretary of State: 'Last month, we wrote to your assistant for consular affairs protesting the visa granted to the Iranian regime's Vice President for Women’s Affairs despite her horrific record of abusing women in Iran, but we received no response. Both Democratic and Republican members of Congress wrote to you last month urging the U.S. State Department to impose such visa restrictions. In light of the above and in respect for the victims of the IRGC and Hezbollah terrorism, we again urge you to revoke Amir-Abdollahian's visa and prevent his entry into the U.S.' Mark Wallace described Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Iranian Foreign Minister, as a 'senior member of the IRGC' and deemed his potential presence in the U.S. on April 18 as 'a slap in the face of the victims of the 41-year-old explosion of the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon and their families.' The explosion on April 18, 1983, at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, carried out by Hezbollah, resulted in 63 deaths, some of whom were American, and left 120 others injured.