Trump administration approves UNGA visas for Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Iran’s UNGA delegation will face US travel restrictions and limits on purchases in New York.
US visa approval for Iran comes a day after Washington denied entry to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The United States has approved visas for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to attend next week’s high-level United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York, despite the ongoing war between Washington and Tehran.
According to Associated Press, the State Department said on Thursday that it had approved visas for Iran’s “core delegation”, along with essential staffers needed to participate in the UN meetings. US officials said the delegation included Pezeshkian and Araghchi. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of visa privacy laws.
The decision comes as the US and Iran remain locked in a war that has lasted more than six months, with no sign that agreements to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or a return to talks on Iran’s nuclear programme are close. It also follows stepped-up attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Saudi infrastructure and shipping in the Red Sea, another major maritime route where disruptions have contributed to a rise in global oil prices.
Iran remains designated by the US as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Washington has imposed significant sanctions on Tehran and launched a new campaign in recent weeks aimed at severing what it describes as “critical financial lifelines”.
US Host Country Obligations
As the host country for the United Nations headquarters, the US is generally limited in its ability to prevent foreign leaders from travelling to the General Assembly. Washington has, however, previously denied visas to or discouraged applications from leaders involved in active conflicts with the United States.
Associated Press reported that the decision to approve the Iranian visas came a day after the State Department denied visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his delegation ahead of the General Assembly.
“Consistent with our host country obligations, the core delegation from the Iranian regime will be able to attend UN General Assembly High Level week,” the State Department said. “The delegation will be under travel restrictions and will face prohibitions on the purchase of luxury and other goods per our policy. The delegation is smaller than last year.”
The restrictions are similar to those imposed on Iranian officials attending last year’s UN meetings. Those meetings took place before the Iran war began on February 28 but after the US and Israel launched air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025.
The State Department approved visas for a limited number of Iranian diplomats at the time, while imposing strict restrictions on the delegation’s movements. Iranian officials faced severe limits on how far they could travel in New York City from their UN mission and were barred from shopping at wholesale membership stores such as Costco and Sam’s Club.
Palestinian Delegation Denied US Visas
The State Department accused the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, of trying to “internationalise” the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The department cited the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to bring cases related to the conflict before the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. It also cited the authority’s continued payment of stipends to prisoners jailed in Israel for attacks on Israelis.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the US decision and called Israel’s actions “the real threat to the two-state solution and prospects for peace”. It said it remained committed to long-stalled negotiations while defending its efforts to gain Palestinian recognition through international bodies and courts.
“Punitive measures and restrictions imposed on Palestinian officials do not contribute to advancing peace or combating violence,” the authority’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “Rather, they weaken the Palestinian partner committed to a political solution and encourage forces working to undermine the two-state solution and impose the reality of occupation, settlement and annexation by force.”
According to Associated Press, the US does not recognise the Palestinian Authority as the government of a full UN member state. The UN General Assembly, along with various UN agencies and organisations, does.
