Free Republic

A kidnapper-diplomat is an oxymoron—words with contradictory meanings, In this case, the terms suggest that an ambassador has operated outside the rules of diplomacy. Now tack on evidence that he is linked to an assassination of another envoy; then surely there are grounds for his exclusion from the United States. Iran nominated Hamid Aboutalebi to be Ambassador to the UN, but Washington refused to issue a visa. The Committee on Relations with the Host Country refrained from making a recommendation to the General Assembly, and the case remains on the Committee agenda. On April 18, 2014, President Barack Obama signed...

The White House says the administration won’t grant a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi, who had a role in the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and is Iran’s pick to serve as its ambassador to the UN. White House press secretary Jay Carney said the administration has told Iran at multiple levels that Aboutalebi’s selection was “not viable.” The move effectively keeps Aboutalebi out of the country. But it still isn’t clear whether President Obama will sign legislation that would prevent Aboutalebi from coming here as a matter of law.

April 11, 2014, 01:06 pm Obama denies visa to Iran diplomat By Justin Sink The White House said Friday it would not issue a visa to Iran's next ambassador to the United Nations, who has ties to the Iranian hostage crisis. “We have informed the United Nations and Iran that we will not issue a visa to Mr. Hamid Abutalebi,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said. Abutalebi has admitted that he worked as a translator and negotiator for the student group that held Americans hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Iran for 444 days. "We’ve confirmed what we’ve conveyed....

The White House announced today that it would refuse to issue a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi, the Iranian envoy to the United Nations, over his connection to the 1979 hostage crisis in Tehran. Aboutalebi belonged to the “student group” who seized Americans from the US embassy despite having diplomatic immunity, and the Iranian government held them captive for 444 days:

The US Senate has unanimously passed a bill barring known terrorists from entering the United States as ambassadors to the United Nations. The move came in response to the decision by Iran to appoint Hamid Aboutalebi, who participated in the 1979 hostage-taking of Americans in Tehran, as its UN ambassador. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf had called the decision "extremely troubling", and at least 29 Republican Senators had appealed to the Obama administration to deny Aboutalebi a visa to enter the US. One of those Senators was Ted Cruz (R-TX), who said he would not make do with a simple...

The Senate unanimously passed a bill sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz Monday night, which would block known terrorists from getting visas to enter the United States as U.N. ambassadors. He thanked several senators by name on the Senate floor he said were “instrumental in the passage,” including Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat and a very unlikely ally. Iran’s newest U.N. ambassador, Hamid Aboutalebi, was an active participant in the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, when 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days in Tehran. He was appointed earlier this year by Iranian President Hasan Rouhani. Shchumer said in a statement...

The U.S. has already signaled that Iran's UN envoy pick is a no-go - and for VERY good reason. At the same time we are being entangled in these disputes; we do so and are to some degree continuing this because the UN is on U.S. grounds. The statement "get the U.S. out of the UN and the UN out of the U.S." has been oft-repeated...so here is a possible solution - with one caveat. The UN is moved to neutral territory (if at all possible), so we don't have to shell out a significant chunk for its operating expenses....

Former President Jimmy Carter yesterday said he is supportive of letting a known member of a terrorist group, Hamid Aboutalebi, into the United States as Iran’s newest ambassador to the United Nations. Aboutalebi was a member of the Muslim student group who held 52 Americans hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for more than a year beginning in 1979 during Carter’s presidency. When asked in an interview if the United States should block Aboutalebi’s entrance to U.N. headquarters in New York, Carter told radio station WTOP: “You know, those were college students at that time, and I think that...