More than 500 Iranian-American scientists, intellectuals, and business leaders are lobbying the White House to refuse Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi admittance into the United States for the United Nations General Assembly later this month in New York.
In a letter to President Joe Biden on Thursday, the organization urged him to take "bold and urgent steps to reflect that Raisi does not represent the people of Iran and must thus be refused admission into the United States."
Irianian President Set To Visit US for UN Meeting
The letter adds to rising requests from Iranian opposition organizations in the United States and senators on both sides of the aisle to exclude the hardline cleric from visiting the United States because of human rights violations.
Last month, the Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC), an organization affiliated with the Iranian dissident group the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or MEK, lined the National Mall with hundreds of photographs of Iranians slain during the 1988 executions of political prisoners, as per Washington Times.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers is urging President Biden to deny necessary "entry visas" to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation in order for them to attend the upcoming 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, citing the foreign president's history of supporting terrorism and violating human rights.
They also reference Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the Departments of Homeland Security and State "the legal right to prohibit admission" to anybody involved in any act of torture or murder.
The congressmen point out that two prior administrations had rejected entrance visas to Iranian regime leaders in the recent decade: in 2014, Iran's UN Ambassador Hamid Aboutalebi, and in 2020, foreign minister Javad Zarif.
Joe Biden Negotiates With Iran on Nuclear Deal
The congressmen point out that two prior administrations had rejected entrance visas to Iranian regime leaders in the recent decade: in 2014, Iran's UN Ambassador Hamid Aboutalebi; and in 2020, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. The letter comes as the Biden administration works out the last terms of a new nuclear deal with Iran.
Last week, a bipartisan group of 50 House Democrats and Republicans urged President Joe Biden to share the text of any agreement to resurrect the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Congress before signing it.
They were particularly concerned about the possibility of lifting sanctions against Iran in order to limit the country's capacity to support terrorist activities against the United States and its allies. Based on a recent assessment from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the present proposal will result in a $274 billion windfall for the Islamic Republic of Iran in its first year of implementation, and upwards of $1 trillion for the regime by 2030, according to Fox News.
If efforts to resurrect the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement fail, Biden wants to guarantee that the US has other viable alternatives to ensure that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons capacity, As per White House spokeswoman.
National security spokesman John Kirby said Washington will continue to work for the agreement's reimplementation, but its patience was not endless, Reuters via MSN reported.
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