WASHINGTON — 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.
Carney said the administration is working to address issues related to the “utility” and “constitutionality” of the legislation — signaling that the White House is weighing whether the bill would be an intrusion on the president’s authority to execute the nation’s immigration laws.
But as to the intent of the law, “We share it,” Carney said.
This week the House and Senate, without any opposition, passed a bill to keep out a UN official who “poses a threat to United States national security interests, or has been found to have been engaged in a terrorist activity against the United States.”
It got a boost when Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) came to an agreement.
Aboutalebi participated in the 1979 hostage crisis at the US Embassy in Tehran, where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days, though he has downplayed his role as merely being a translator for the students who took the hostages. He has served as Iran’s ambassador to Belgium, Italy and Australia.
One issue is whether the clash could affect talks over Iran’s nuclear program. Carney said that won’t happen.