Iranian official banned from speaking at IAEA conference after US pressure

A senior Iranian official has been banned from speaking at the International Atomic Energy Agency's general conference in Vienna following pressure from US President Donald Trump's administration. Bloomberg reports this.

Iran's vice president for nuclear affairs, Mohammad Eslami, was scheduled to address the United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog on Monday, but Austria denied him entry, according to an unnamed US official.

“The refusal to grant Eslami the UN-requested sanctions relief, which would have allowed him to enter Austria, followed persistent requests from the United States,” the agency quoted the official as saying, who wished to remain anonymous.

It is noted that while a lower-level Iranian representative may speak at the meeting later this week, this means that a senior emissary from Tehran will not be present at the start of the conference.