The United States will ensure that foreign visitors pose no threat to its national security, the State Department told Iran International when asked whether the Iranian delegation would be issued visas to attend this year's UN General Assembly in New York.
While the United States is generally obligated under the UN Headquarters Agreement to issue visas to representatives of member states, the Trump administration "will not waver in upholding American law and the highest standards of national security and public safety in the conduct of our visa process," a State Department spokesman said.
"Ensuring that foreign visitors to the United States do not pose a threat to US national security or public safety remains a paramount priority of the US government," the spokesperson added in response to Iran International's inquiry.
The State Department said it does not comment or speculate on individual cases due to visa confidentiality, leaving it unclear whether Iranian officials will be allowed to travel to New York this year.
The comments come as the United Nations prepares to host its annual General Assembly session next month, when world leaders gather in New York for high-level meetings.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio rescinded the visas of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other officials ahead of the UN General Assembly, the State Department said on Friday, though Palestinian representatives assigned to the UN mission were granted exceptions.
Visa for Iranian officials
Last year, the United States faced criticism from members of the Iranian diaspora and activists over its decision to issue visas to President Masoud Pezeshkian and his delegation to attend the UNGA.
The question of visas for Iranian delegations to the UN has been a recurring point of friction between Washington and Tehran, particularly during President Donald Trump’s previous term.
In 2019, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was granted a visa to attend the UNGA in New York, but his movements were tightly restricted to a few blocks around UN headquarters.
The US also has a history of denying visas to officials of the Islamic Republic. In 2014, the White House refused to issue a visa to Iran’s nominee for UN ambassador, Hamid Aboutalebi, due to his involvement in the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran.
The judiciary has accelerated death sentences since Israel struck the prison on June 23.
Human rights lawyers said the attack gave judges a pretext for vengeance.
“A spirit of vengeance has taken over the judiciary,” one Tehran lawyer, who asked not to be named, told the Times.
“A judge told me: ‘Our generals and officials have been killed, and we should take revenge.’ He didn’t even allow me to speak.”
Motahareh Gounei, a 28-year-old dental student arrested for criticizing the state, survived the bombing in Ward 209. “I thought, ‘This is it. I’m dead. I’ll be buried here,’” she said in a phone interview after being released on bail.
Rights groups say many of those now marked for execution were jailed for protest activity, not espionage, and their cases rest on confessions extracted under torture.
Asghar Jahangir, spokesperson for the Islamic Republic’s judiciary, announced on June 29 that in the Israeli attack on Evin Prison, 71 people were killed.
“The casualties included administrative staff, soldiers, inmates, family members who had come for visits or legal follow-ups, and neighbors living near the prison,” he said.
From ‘Evin University’ to collective punishment
Evin has long been notorious for torture yet also carried symbolic weight for the opposition. Political detainees staged hunger strikes, organized discussions and even confronted judges visiting the prison. It became known among activists as Evin University.
That fragile space was erased by the airstrike. The following day, authorities transferred 61 women to Qarchak, a facility notorious for disease and overcrowding.
“Since we were transferred to Qarchak, we’ve lost the right to work in workshops and to cover our living expenses. That means we can no longer buy groceries and are forced to eat the prison’s food, which is mostly plain rice,” one inmate said in a monitored call.
Gounei was later moved to an intelligence-run safe house. “Your name isn’t recorded anywhere,” she said. “My interrogator told me: ‘I’ll rape you and dump your body in the desert.’”
Rising executions
Iran Human Rights, an NGO, recorded 511 executions in the first five months of 2025, nearly double the same period last year. The judiciary has announced 700 arrests for alleged espionage during the war, vowing to show “no mercy.”
Male inmates from Evin have also faced brutality. About 500 transferred prisoners were returned in chains and beaten by riot police. Roughly 100 condemned prisoners were separated from the rest, including Mohammad-Bagher Bakhtiar, a 67-year-old former Revolutionary Guard commander turned dissident.
His son, Ali Reza, said: “Since the transfer to Evin, due to lack of access to medical staff, the full extent of the injuries to my father and other detainees is still unknown.”
Israel said its strikes on Evin aimed at guards and were designed to embolden the opposition. Officials accused Tehran of exploiting the attack to justify executions while presenting the war as a domestic victory.
