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The U.S. is reportedly weighing banning Iranian diplomats from visiting wholesale stores like Costco when they’re in New York this month for the UN General Assembly meeting, a newly leaked memo shows.
According to The Associated Press, one State Department proposal for limiting the Iranian delegation’s movement would include barring them from member clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club unless they received permission from the State Department.
It is also considering placing “terms and conditions” on memberships for the stores for all foreign diplomats, the memo said.
AP notes that Costco and other wholesale stores are popular among Iranian diplomats to buy items in bulk that they don’t have access to back home.
Iranians have faced a huge slate of sanctions from the U.S. for decades, with everyday Iranians often barred from accessing regular consumer goods even when they are in the U.S.
A ban on Costco memberships for Iranian diplomats isn’t new; in 2013, the company barred Iranian embassy workers in Japan and the U.K. from shopping at Costco clubs. This was part of U.S.’s Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, which requires companies to disclose if they “knowingly engaged in certain specified activities involving contacts with or support for Iran or other identified persons involved in terrorism or the creation of weapons of mass destruction.”
Iranian delegates already face restrictions on their movement in New York for the visit, AP notes. Last year, U.S. authorities imposed severe restrictions on Iran’s delegation, only allowing them to travel in the two blocks between their hotel and the UN headquarters, and to the airport.
The State Department memo also floated travel restrictions on other foreign diplomats, including those from Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Brazil.
The proposals are part of a wide effort by the Trump administration to crack down on those traveling to the U.S. for the UN General Assembly meeting later this month.
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he was revoking visas for Palestinian officials, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, slated to attend the meeting. This move comes despite a UN-U.S. agreement for the U.S. not to obstruct travel for delegates from UN member states and non-member observers.
The U.S. was widely denounced for the move, which critics said was part of the all-out effort by Israel and its allies to silence and erase Palestinians, no matter the forum.
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