U.S. grants visas to Iranian leaders for UN meeting

The Trump administration will allow Iran’s president and foreign minister to travel to New York for next week’s United Nations General Assembly, granting visas to a smaller delegation under tight limits as the U.S. war with Iran enters its seventh month.

A State Department spokesperson said Thursday that Washington would admit a core Iranian delegation for the annual gathering of world leaders, citing U.S. responsibilities as host country for the United Nations.

“Consistent with our host country obligations, the core delegation from the Iranian regime will be able to attend U.N. General Assembly High Level Week,” the spokesperson said. “The delegation will be under travel restrictions and will face prohibitions on the purchase of luxury and other goods per our policy.”

A person familiar with the decision said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are among those receiving visas, along with essential staff. The State Department said the delegation will be smaller than the one Iran sent last year.

The decision comes at a fraught point in the conflict. U.S. forces and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have continued attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway where about 20% of the world’s oil flowed before the war, NBC News reported. Al Jazeera reported that the disruption of the strait, which handles roughly 20% of global seaborne energy transit, has pushed global oil prices higher.

President Donald Trump said Thursday he is weighing whether to resume full-scale attacks on Iran. “I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not? It’s a big decision. Anything could happen with me,” Trump told Axios, according to NBC News.

NBC News also reported that U.S. Central Command said the U.S. military struck five Iranian tankers linked to the IRGC last week in response to attempted attacks on an American warship.

The United States has long restricted the movement of Iranian officials visiting New York for U.N. business. NBC News reported that, beginning in 2025, the Trump administration expanded those limits to block access even to wholesale and luxury stores, confining Iranian officials to “areas strictly necessary to transit to and from the U.N. headquarters district to conduct their official U.N. business,” according to the State Department.

“We will not let the Iranian regime’s elites exploit UNGA for a luxury retail splurge paid for by the Iranian people’s suffering, all while the regime funnels Iran’s wealth to support its terrorist proxies,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said Thursday on social media. “The U.S. will continue to ban Iranian UN Mission officials, visiting officials, and their dependents from buying wholesale club memberships or luxury goods here.”

An Iranian presidential protocol official said last month that Tehran was still assessing the level and size of its attendance at this year’s General Assembly and called the U.S. conditions illegal, NBC News reported. The official did not elaborate on the complaint.

The General Assembly’s general debate begins Tuesday, when Trump is expected to speak. Pezeshkian is scheduled to address the gathering Wednesday.

While approving visas for Iranian leaders, the administration is again blocking Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from attending, according to a person familiar with the decision cited by NBC News. The move extends sanctions denying visas to officials from the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization for the annual meeting.

The State Department accused the Palestinian groups of trying to bypass negotiations by seeking unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, internationalizing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through bodies including the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, and “glorifying acts of terrorism and terrorists in public pronouncements and school textbooks.” Al Jazeera reported that Palestinian diplomats already accredited to the U.N. will still represent the Palestinians at the meeting.

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates rejected the U.S. decision. It called the move unjustified and said it undermines efforts to restore trust and create conditions for a two-state solution. In a separate statement quoted by Al Jazeera, the ministry said, “Punitive measures and restrictions imposed on Palestinian officials do not contribute to advancing peace or combating violence.”