NEW YORK: Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday that tight U.S. travel restrictions on Iranian diplomats and their families living in New York are basically “inhuman”.
The diplomats are subject to the same rules imposed by the United States on Zarif, who arrived on Sunday amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
They may only travel between the United Nations, the Iranian U.N. mission, the Iranian U.N. ambassador’s residence and John F. Kennedy airport.
There is also a carve-out for the six blocks surrounding Queensboro Plaza in Long Island City in the borough of Queens, though it was not immediately clear why.
“It is certainly not a friendly action. It puts the members of the mission and their families under basically inhuman conditions. But for me it’s fine because I don’t have any work anywhere other than the three buildings,” Zarif told reporters at the United Nations.
According to the U.N. Blue Book, which lists diplomats of each mission to the world body, there are 13 Iranian diplomats in New York.
