TEHRAN – Chairman of the 6th committee of UN General Assembly ordered cancelation of the meeting after Iran’s representative at the committee Ali Nasimfar voiced strong dissatisfaction about Washington’s restriction imposed on the Iranian delegation during the 74th session of the UN annual meeting in September.

Nasimfar voiced Tehran’s opposition to the U.S. for refusing to issue a visa to all members of the Iranian delegation planned to visit New York and called on the chairman of the committee to counter such moves.

Nasimfar’s opposition which enjoyed the expertise and legal basis forced the chairman of the committee to postpone the session to investigate the Iranian diplomat’s opposition.

Nasimfar, who serves as Iran’s ranking lawyer at the UN, lashed out at the Washington officials’ lack of cooperation to issue the visa for the Iranian delegation, imposing restrictions on Iranian diplomats and their family members residing in New York, calling on the UN secretariat to meddle in the issue.    

Nasimfar said that the U.S. move as a host country is in contradiction to the UN Charter and relevant conventions because the move has prevented the effective presence of the UN member states in required meetings.

In the meantime, Stephane Dujjarric, the spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said, “The secretariat is after contacting with the host country’s representative office to solve the problem.

The sixth committee is the primary forum for the consideration of legal questions in the General Assembly.

The U.S. limited the number of visas for the Iranian delegation to attend the UN meeting in September in New York.

It also imposed restrictions on the movement of the Iranian officials in the city.

Last month, American authorities forbade Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif from visiting a New York hospital to see his country’s Ambassador to United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi, who is undergoing cancer treatment.

The U.S. State Department said it would allow the hospital travel request only if Iran released one of the U.S. citizens claimed to be "wrongfully detained" in Iran.

MJ/PA