Iran says US denied visas to president's media team for UN visit

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the United States refused visas for members of President Masoud Pezeshkian's communications team, describing the move as an attempt to limit access to information. In a statement posted on his X account late on Monday, Baghaei wrote that Washington had closed its doors to journalists it dislikes at home and to foreign reporters whose voices it would rather silence, including the Iranian president's communications team.

"When an administration slams its doors shut — even on American journalists it happens to dislike — and bars foreign reporters, including the Iranian president's media team, whose voices it would rather silence, it is not managing access; it is trying to hide the truth and further its misinformation campaign by trampling on the right of access to information," he said.

Baghaei added that a nation which once took pride in tearing down the Iron Curtain now finds itself standing behind one of its own. The statement followed reports that the United States had refused visas to parts of Pezeshkian's high-level delegation, including his communications team, in what was described as an unprecedented move by the Trump administration.

The dispute concerns arrangements surrounding the Iranian president's participation in United Nations-related events, with the visa refusals affecting media and communications staff rather than only diplomatic personnel. The Iranian spokesman framed the decision as part of a broader pattern of restricting press access, while US officials have not publicly detailed the reasons for the visa denials in the account cited.

The episode adds to longstanding tensions between Tehran and Washington over travel and accreditation for Iranian officials and journalists attending UN gatherings in New York. Under the host-country agreement, the United States is generally expected to facilitate access for UN-related business, though disputes over visas have occurred across successive administrations.

According to Mehr News, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman made the remarks in a post on his X account, and the report characterized the visa refusals as an unprecedented hostile move by the Trump administration against the Iranian president's delegation.