Forty US lawmakers led by Congressman Mike Lawler have called on President Trump to bar Iranian officials from freely entering the United States during this month’s UN General Assembly in New York, citing human rights abuses and support for terrorism.
In a letter to the White House dated September 4, the Republican members of the Congress urged the administration to restrict visas and limit the movement of Iranian delegates.
"We respectfully urge you to restrict the Iranian delegation’s freedom of movement, and, to the extent possible, refrain from issuing visas to key delegation members, including for its President, Masoud Pezeshkian," the Congresspeople said.
The letter highlighted a “brutal crackdown on ethnic minorities, women’s rights activists, and political dissidents,” noting that nearly 1,500 people had been executed in the past year alone.
"In solidarity with the Iranian people, who are calling for a multi-party, secular, democratic, non-nuclear republic of Iran, and in furtherance of US national security interests, we urge you to use the full force of the law to prevent the Iranian regime from exploiting the United Nations General Assembly meeting to present a deceptive image of moderation."
On Friday, the Associated Press reported the Trump administration is considering new restrictions on foreign delegations attending this month’s UN General Assembly, including measures that would further limit the movements of Iranian diplomats in New York.
One proposal would prevent Iranian officials from shopping at wholesale clubs such as Costco and Sam’s Club without State Department permission, the report said, adding that such stores have long been favored by Iranian diplomats, who buy large quantities of goods unavailable in Iran and send them home.
Three years ago, footage of then-President Ebrahim Raisi’s delegation in New York drew wide attention on social media, showing aides loading piles of goods with US retail labels into a truck outside their hotel.
The congressional appeal comes as thousands of world leaders and diplomats prepare to converge on New York later this month for the annual high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly.
On August 31, the State Department said it would ensure that foreign visitors do not pose a threat to US national security when issuing visas, in response to a question from Iran International on whether the Iranian delegation would be allowed to attend the UN General Assembly.
While the United States is generally obligated under the UN Headquarters Agreement to issue visas to representatives of member states, the Trump administration "will not waver in upholding American law and the highest standards of national security and public safety in the conduct of our visa process," a State Department spokesman said.
"Ensuring that foreign visitors to the United States do not pose a threat to US national security or public safety remains a paramount priority of the US government," the spokesperson added in response to Iran International's inquiry.
Larijani, a former parliament speaker and veteran nuclear negotiator, was appointed last month to lead the powerful body in charge of key security decisions, where he also holds a parallel role as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's personal representative.
His mandate places him at the center of Tehran’s decision-making apparatus following a 12-day war with Israel in June, and his comments marked the most dovish yet on renewing US diplomacy by a top security official since the conflict.
“The path for negotiations with the US is not closed; yet these are the Americans who only pay lip service to talks and do not come to the table — and they wrongfully blame Iran for it,” Larijani wrote on X, posting on behalf of the council.
"WE INDEED PURSUE RATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS. By raising unrealizable issues such as missile restrictions, they set a path which negates any talks."
Speaking separately to Iranian media managers, Larijani dismissed Western demands that Iran scale back its missile program as unacceptable.
“The enemy says we must back down from our missile capability. Which honorable Iranian today would want to hand over his weapon to the enemy?” he said. “We also see negotiations as the path to resolving the nuclear issue. But by raising issues such as missiles, (it shows) they don’t want talks to take shape.”
His remarks underscore Tehran’s refusal to link missiles to nuclear diplomacy. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) restricted Iran’s nuclear program but did not directly address missiles. However, UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the deal, included language urging restraint on missile development.
Larijani argued that Washington is using the missile issue to derail diplomacy.
“At present, the Americans do not want to negotiate. After all, the war broke out at a time when we were in the middle of negotiations,” he said, referring to the recent 12-day war with Israel.
Larijani's comments come amid escalating nuclear tensions. Britain, France and Germany — the E3 — have triggered the UN’s “snapback” mechanism under Resolution 2231, seeking to restore pre-2015 sanctions over what they call Iran’s serious non-compliance.
Tehran, backed by Russia and China, has rejected the move as null and void. Iranian lawmakers have even threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if sanctions are reimposed.
The SNSC chief’s statement on Tuesday called restrictions on Iran’s missile program “unrealizable,” signaling that while Tehran insists negotiations remain possible, it will not make concessions on what it considers a core pillar of its defense doctrine.
The sanctions target Waleed Khaled Hameed al-Samarra’i, based in the United Arab Emirates, along with his firms Babylon Navigation DMCC and Galaxy Oil FZ LLC, and nine Liberia-flagged tankers.
Washington said the network covertly blended Iranian and Iraqi oil through ship-to-ship transfers in the Persian Gulf and in Iraqi ports, marketing it as solely Iraqi in origin.
The Treasury estimated the operation generated about $300 million annually for both Iran and al-Samarra’i.
It accused the group of using shell companies in the Marshall Islands to obscure ownership of vessels and employing tactics such as night transfers and location spoofing to hide activity.
“Iraq cannot become a safe haven for terrorists, which is why the United States is working to counter Iran’s influence in the country,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
“By targeting Iran’s oil revenue stream, Treasury will further degrade the regime’s ability to carry out attacks against the United States and its allies.”
The measures follow sanctions announced in July against another network accused of blending Iranian and Iraqi oil.
For two consecutive years, Chinese records show imports of “Iraqi” oil exceeding Iraq’s declared shipments by around 100,000 barrels per day—worth more than $2.5 billion annually.
The gap has grown since 2021, suggesting a persistent pattern of disguised flows, according to experts.
Iraq’s oil minister Hayyan Abdul-Ghani acknowledged earlier this year that Iranian tankers were using forged Iraqi documents and said the matter had been reported to the United States.
