Zarif visits old colleague virtually

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif talked through a video call with the country's ambassador to the UN Majid Takht Ravanchi.

Iran Press/America: Iran's Foreign Minister in a tweet stated that "Thanks to technology, I was able to see and talk to my friend of 40 years and our UN ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi, who is in a hospital here in New York only a few blocks away." 

According to Iran Press, the United States rejected a request by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit Iran’s United Nations ambassador in a New York hospital where he is being treated for cancer, the U.S. State Department and Iran's UN mission said on Friday. 

A US State Department official attached strings to Zarif's request, saying his request would be granted if Iran released one of several American citizens detained in the country.

In July the United States imposed tight travel restrictions on Zarif before a visit that month to the United Nations, as well as on Iranian diplomats and their families living in New York, which Zarif described as “basically inhuman." 

The US granted a late visa to Zarif who was going to attend a UN meeting. However, surprisingly,  his movement is limited to the UN headquarters, the Iranian embassy and his residence – a total distance of six blocks. 101/211/219

Read More:

US attaches strings to Zarif visiting a hospitalised colleague and senior diplomat in New York

Zarif: US wants to make negotiations with Iran impossible

Iran's Foreign Minister stresses resistance to US bullying