Iran and Hamid Aboutalebi

Hamid Aboutalebi: The Obama administration said Friday that the U.S. had informed Iran it would not grant a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi, a member of the group responsible for the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. While U.S. officials had been trying to persuade Iran to simply withdraw Aboutalebis name, the announcement amounted to an acknowledgement that those efforts had not been successful, according to 660 News. Aboutalebi is alleged to have participated in a Muslim student group that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days during the embassy takeover. He has insisted his involvement in the group Muslim Students Following the Imams Line was limited to translation and negotiation and The United States has blocked Irans pick for envoy to the United Nations, a rare diplomatic rebuke that could stir fresh animosity at a time when Washington and Tehran have been seeking a thaw in relations. We ve communicated with the Iranians at a number of levels and made clear our position on this and that includes our position that the selection was not viable, White House spokesman Jay Carney said. Our position is that we will not be issuing him a visa. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.