The Biden-Harris administration is granting visas to the Iranian regime's top officials for the UN General Assembly, and it expects the country to accept this as diplomacy. It is not diplomacy. It is a reward for terror.
President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will be allowed into New York even as the regime they represent funds terrorist proxies and targets U.S. bases in the Gulf. The State Department's only answer is to promise travel restrictions and a ban on luxury purchases.
A smaller delegation and a ban on “shopping sprees” is not a policy; it is a public relations strategy.
Consider the context the administration would rather ignore. The conflict that began in February after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes continues to disrupt global energy markets and regional security. The Iranian regime is not a reluctant participant in this chaos; it is a driving force.
It funds terrorist proxies and targets U.S. bases in the Gulf, and it has done so while the White House looks for ways to accommodate its leaders. Hosting these officials at the United Nations does not advance American interests. It undermines them.
Then there is the administration's selective compassion. The same administration that found room for the Iranian regime has denied visas to the Palestinian delegation, citing a lack of recognition for their legitimacy.
If the administration is so concerned about legitimacy, it should have no trouble recognizing the Iranian regime for what it is: a state sponsor of terrorism. Instead, the Palestinian delegation is shut out while Tehran gets a welcome. That is not a principled foreign policy. It is a moral muddle.
The regime's victims have no liberty, and the administration's hospitality mocks them.
The visa process is one of the most basic exercises of national sovereignty and the rule of law. It is how the United States decides who may enter the country and who may not. When the administration waves in officials from a regime that is actively hostile to American interests, it turns that sovereign act into a farce.
The restrictions the State Department claims to have imposed are unverifiable and unenforceable. The administration is asking the American people to trust that the Iranian regime's delegation will behave itself while it is in New York. History says otherwise.
This is also a failure of accountability. The administration's reliance on international forums to manage a conflict that shows no signs of resolution is a dereliction of duty. Instead of isolating the Iranian regime, the White House is giving it a platform. Instead of standing firm with allies and interests, it is hoping a photo opportunity will somehow produce a different result. It will not. The regime will take its visas, deliver its speeches, and return to Tehran with a new propaganda victory.
Congress should not let this stand. The administration must be called to account for why it is rolling out the welcome mat for a regime that targets American forces while shutting out others. The United States does not need to be rude to its adversaries, but it does need to be clear about who is a friend and who is an enemy. This policy blurs that line until it disappears. And when the line disappears, the consequences follow.
Every nation has the right to determine who crosses its borders. But with that right comes the responsibility to exercise judgment. The Biden-Harris administration has chosen to exercise that judgment in favor of the Iranian regime. That is not strength. It is surrender by ceremony, and the country will pay for it.
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