Iran seeks Annan's help on US visas for UN session

United Nations, Sep 16: Iran has asked UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for help in obtaining US visas for some of its officials in time to attend next week's General Assembly opening debate, UN officials said.

Annan has contacted the US authorities to encourage them to grant visas to the entire delegation in a timely fashion after Iran's interior minister was unable to get a visa in time to attend a U.N. meeting this week on immigration, they said yesterday.

The United States says Iran is part of an ''axis of evil'' seeking to build nuclear weapons and is pressing the U.N.

Security Council to impose sanctions on Tehran after it failed to suspend its enrichment of uranium by an August 31 deadline.

Under a ''headquarters'' treaty with the United Nations, Washington has agreed it ''shall not impose any impediment'' to officials from U.N. members heading to the world body's headquarters for U.N. business.

The agreement does allow the United States to make an exception for various reasons, including the possibility the individual might pose a security threat.

A U.S. official said no member of the Iranian delegation had yet been denied a visa to attend the two-week General Assembly debate beginning on Tuesday.

''The applications have been made, they are being adjudicated, no one is asking for any additional information,'' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. ''I assume this will all move as a package. No one has told me yet that there's any of them there that are particularly problematic.'' The U.S. official said the Iranian interior minister did not get a visa ''based on information available and ... the appropriate U.S. laws and regulations. It certainly wasn't a political gesture. He didn't qualify.'' The official would not elaborate.

The U.N. officials said they understood Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would get a visa but it was uncertain whether some other members of the Iranian delegation would be allowed to travel to U.N. headquarters.

U.S. State Department official Kristen Silverberg said in Washington on Friday no final decision had been made on Ahmadinejad's visa.

''I can say that the U.S. takes its headquarters agreement responsibilities very seriously, and so we always make sure that we've adhered to it,'' Silverberg told reporters.

Reuters