Iran’s president may skip UN meeting, blaming US obstacles

Iran’s president and other officials might not attend a United Nations gathering in New York City next week because of obstacles raised by the United States, an Iranian state news outlet reported Wednesday. Tehran and Washington have been locked in a tense standoff over an attack on Saudi Arabia last weekend for which US officials have blamed Iran.

Hours later, Trump, who has already imposed punishing economic sanctions on Iran, wrote on Twitter that he had told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “to substantially increase Sanctions on the country of Iran.”

The news of the likely Iranian absence at the meeting came as Saudi Arabia prepared to make public what it said was evidence of Tehran’s responsibility for the multiple airstrikes against oil processing facilities in the kingdom. The attack, using drones and possibly cruise missiles, has temporarily cut Saudi oil processing in half, shaking global markets.

The United States has not granted visas for an Iranian advance team to go to New York to prepare for the annual UN General Assembly, according to the outlet, the Islamic Republic News Agency. As a result, it said, President Hassan Rouhani and his delegation might not go to the meeting.

There was extended speculation this summer about a possible face-to-face meeting between President Donald Trump and Rouhani on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting, particularly after President Emmanuel Macron of France said last month that he was trying to arrange such an encounter.

The attack Saturday was the latest — and potentially the most serious — factor escalating tensions between the two countries, raising fears of military clashes and even outright war.

Iran and its ally, the Houthi rebel faction in Yemen, insist that the Houthis — who are fighting a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s civil war — carried out the strikes in retaliation for the extensive bombing by Saudi Arabia that has killed thousands of people in Yemen. The Houthis are known to use weapons supplied by Iran, but the attack showed a level of technological sophistication far beyond what the Houthis had demonstrated before.

Rouhani sent a formal note Monday to the United States denying an Iranian role and warning that any US action against Iran would bring retaliation, Iranian state news media reported Wednesday.

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