Tehran slams Washington over rising restrictions on Iranian UN diplomats

In a statement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said the imposition of sweeping restrictions on the residence of Iranian diplomats and on their movements; the tightening of restrictions on their banking accounts; and the imposition of constraints upon daily purchases, constitute pressures and harassments devised and implemented with the objective of obstructing the normal and lawful discharge of duties by Iranian diplomats.

It said the decision of the United States Department of State to bar three staff members of the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran in New York from continuing their functions constitutes the apex of lawlessness and the breach of host-country obligations by the United States.

“This decision—adopted on the basis of spurious reasoning and unfounded allegations—not only represents yet another manifest indication of the hostility and animus of US political decision-makers toward the Iranian people, but also constitutes a flagrant breach of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and an infringement upon the sovereign rights of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran emphasized that such conduct is wrongful and unlawful, amounts to an explicit and egregious violation of the obligations of the United States under the Headquarters Agreement, and entails the international responsibility of the United States.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recalling the responsibilities of the Secretary-General as the signatory of the Headquarters Agreement on behalf of the Member States, called upon him to intervene in order to forestall the continuation of unlawful conduct and the infringement of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s legal rights.