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VIENNA: The \u200bUnited States blocked Iran\u2019s nuclear chief from attending this week\u2019s U.N. atomic watchdog meeting \u200cin Vienna by opposing an exemption from so-called \u201csnapback\u201d U.N. sanctions, prompting protests from Tehran on Monday.<\/strong><\/p>\n Iranian nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami had been due to attend and address this week\u2019s International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference, an annual meeting of IAEA member \u200bstates that began on Monday. At the opening, however, Iran said Austria had revoked Eslami\u2019s visa \u200bafter originally granting him one.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe cancellation and so-called legal justification advanced for it \u2060are a stark indication of a political act and advanced formal politicisation of this organisation,\u201d Iran\u2019s ambassador \u200bto the IAEA told the conference.<\/span><\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the United States had pressured Austria \u200binto the move, while Iran and Russia said it formed part of a broader effort to prevent Iranian officials from obtaining visas for international travel.<\/span><\/p>\n The United States said it had objected to an exemption that would have allowed Eslami to travel \u200bdespite sanctions reimposed under the so-called \u201csnapback\u201d mechanism at the U.N. Security Council.<\/span><\/p>\n Eslami was among those targeted by \u200bsanctions lifted under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers and the United States. The deal unravelled after \u200cPresident Donald \u2060Trump pulled the U.S. out of it in 2018, and Western powers triggered the \u201csnapback\u201d mechanism last year to re-impose those sanctions.<\/span><\/p>\n Iran and allies including Russia do not recognise the reimposed sanctions. Austria said it had requested an exemption for Eslami.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAustria, although being only the host state, submitted a request for an exemption to \u200bthe travel ban to the \u200bSecurity Council sanctions committee, \u2060which was rejected,\u201d Ambassador Christian Ebner told the conference.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAs a consequence, Austria was obliged to deny one member of the Iranian delegation the entry into its \u200bterritory,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n U.S. Ambassador Preston Wells Griffith III said his country had objected \u200bin New \u2060York to an exemption being granted, and that was why the application was denied.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe United States objected to the exemption request, which per the rules of the U.N. sanctions committee resulted in the U.N. Security Council denying the \u2060request,\u201d \u200bhe said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHis (Eslami\u2019s) participation would have only resulted in Iran exploiting IAEA \u200bproceedings as a stage for propaganda while sidestepping substantive cooperation, undermining the credibility of the very body charged with verifying its nuclear \u200bcommitments,\u201d he said, referring to a standoff over inspections.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n