The first vice-president of Iran and members of his delegation were unable to attend the United Nations conference on the economic crisis because the United States denied them visas, according to the UN envoy to Iran on Friday, Xinhua reported.
"I am indeed delivering this speech on behalf of Dr. (Parviz) Davoudi, first vice-president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who along with members of the Iranian delegation was not able to participate in the conference," Iranian UN Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee told the high-level UN meeting on the world financial and economic crisis.
"Their entry visas were not issued by the host country," he said, referring to the United States.
A U.S. State Department official is looking into the matter.
Washington broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980. A year later, the Swiss government assumed representation of U.S. interests in Tehran and Iranian interests in the Untied States are now represented by the government of Pakistan.
Historically, the United States has put aside bilateral disputes with other countries and issued visas for members of UN delegations. However, several times in the past, the United States has denied visas to Iranian delegations.