Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is calling on President Joe Biden to deny Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi entry into the U.S. for U.N. meetings next month amid reported active terror and assassination plots.
"We worked for four years to deny Iranian terrorists the freedom to put Americans at risk," Pompeo, one of the reported targets of the plots, told The Washington Free Beacon. "This administration is allowing them to come to New York City while actively engaged in efforts to kill Americans on U.S. soil.
"The Iranians just recently sponsored an attack that was almost successful in killing an American in that very city. We can do better."
Iran has threatened to "turn New York into ruins and hell" before an August nuclear conference, and a member of the Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps was charged last week with plotting to murder John Bolton, the national security adviser to former President Donald Trump. While Pompeo was not mentioned by name in the Department of Justice's criminal complaint, reports say he was the other official targeted.
Nikki Haley, the ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, has called for Raisi to be denied a visa.
"This shows just how corrupt and broken the U.N. is: Even when Iranian terrorists try to assassinate our officials, on our soil, the U.N. welcomes them with open arms and lets them give a speech," Haley told the Free Beacon.
"Under no circumstances should the Biden administration allow Raisi to set foot in our country. He should not be allowed to stain American soil."
The calls join the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) in urging to block Raisi's visa, which issued a letter to Biden on Tuesday.
The letter noted Raisi is already subject to U.S. sanctions for being "one of the four members of the notorious Teheran Death Committee," which "ordered the torture and brutal mass extrajudicial executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988."
Also, ZOA's letter noted Raisi can address the U.N. General Assembly virtually, as he has in the past.
"In this virtual era, Ayatollah Raisi can address the United Nations from Teheran, without jeopardizing U.S. security by entering the U.S. with his delegation," the letter read. "Indeed, in September 2021, Raisi addressed the U.N. remotely. Raisi did not need to travel to New York to give his 2021 speech disparaging both 'America First' and 'America is Back' (the previous and current U.S. administrations), and accusing the U.S. of 'crimes against humanity.'
"Raisi can do this again from a distance, so that U.S. security is not jeopardized by Raisi and his agents' presence in New York."
Multiple advocacy groups signed on to the letter, including Iranian Americans for Liberty, StopAntisemitism.org, and the Republican Jewish Coalition.
The State Department has maintained it is bound under U.N. agreements to grant visas to speakers like Raisi and his delegation, but advocacy groups note there is a U.S. ability to block them from reaching America under "security reservation."
"President Biden should use this moment in time to send a clear message to the Khamenei regime that President Raisi is not welcome on U.S. soil to give a speech at this year's UNGA," Iranian Americans for Liberty Executive Director Bryan Leib said. "Just two weeks ago, Khamenei's IRGC threatened to kill millions of Americans by using nuclear weapons to 'turn NYC into hellish ruins.'
"This is Biden's last chance to finally send a clear message to Tehran that we are not their allies and that we will not stand on the sidelines as they threaten to nuke American cities and endanger America's strongest ally in the Middle East, the State of Israel. Enough is enough, Mr. President – stop appeasing terrorists and put Americans first!"
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