Trump signs order to punish countries for wrongful detention of Americans

Ali Akbar Velayati, a top foreign policy adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Friday Trump’s actions resembled the aggressive policies of Nazi Germany before the Second World War.

“Political experts believe that Trump pursued a path once tested by the head of Nazi Germany, who managed to terrify the Western world by starting World War II in September 1939. In practice, Hitler’s bullying tactics were repeated by Trump,” he told the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News.

Velayati said Western powers today are acquiescing to Trump just as Britain, France and Italy once fell under Hitler’s sway.

“At that time Britain was at the peak of its power, France had been strong since Napoleon, and Italy rose after Garibaldi. These three were intimidated by Hitler, and now history has repeated itself."

"Mr. Trump, without learning from the past, is walking the same path — a path that will not be favorable to him,” he added.

China-led bloc to decide word's fate in future

Earlier this week, China hosted the leaders of Russia, India, North Korea, and Iran at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin. The gathering, along with a Chinese military parade on its sidelines, was widely seen as a show of strength directed at archrival America.

“Mr. Xi Jinping, after years of successful governance, was able at this summit to reap the fruits of the important and measured efforts he had pursued based on Chinese wisdom, and even brought his longtime rival, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to Beijing," Velayati said.

He also cited Trump’s recent Alaska pact concerning Ukraine, signed “without consulting his Western counterparts,” and said the Shanghai summit showed the move had quickly backfired.

China has shown “patience and composure in silencing Trump’s footsteps,” Velayati said, adding that Beijing is calmly countering US pressure.

The policy of relying on Asia or the East, particularly China and Russia, was promulgated by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in 2018, with the catchphrase, “Looking East”.

"We should look East, not West. Pinning our hope on the West or Europe would belittle us as we will have to beg them for favors and they will do nothing," Khamenei said in a speech in October 2018.

In a letter to the White House dated September 4, the Republican members of the Congress urged the administration to restrict visas and limit the movement of Iranian delegates.

"We respectfully urge you to restrict the Iranian delegation’s freedom of movement, and, to the extent possible, refrain from issuing visas to key delegation members, including for its President, Masoud Pezeshkian," the Congresspeople said.

The letter highlighted a “brutal crackdown on ethnic minorities, women’s rights activists, and political dissidents,” noting that nearly 1,500 people had been executed in the past year alone.

"In solidarity with the Iranian people, who are calling for a multi-party, secular, democratic, non-nuclear republic of Iran, and in furtherance of US national security interests, we urge you to use the full force of the law to prevent the Iranian regime from exploiting the United Nations General Assembly meeting to present a deceptive image of moderation."

On Friday, the Associated Press reported the Trump administration is considering new restrictions on foreign delegations attending this month’s UN General Assembly, including measures that would further limit the movements of Iranian diplomats in New York.

One proposal would prevent Iranian officials from shopping at wholesale clubs such as Costco and Sam’s Club without State Department permission, the report said, adding that such stores have long been favored by Iranian diplomats, who buy large quantities of goods unavailable in Iran and send them home.

Three years ago, footage of then-President Ebrahim Raisi’s delegation in New York drew wide attention on social media, showing aides loading piles of goods with US retail labels into a truck outside their hotel.

The congressional appeal comes as thousands of world leaders and diplomats prepare to converge on New York later this month for the annual high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly.

On August 31, the State Department said it would ensure that foreign visitors do not pose a threat to US national security when issuing visas, in response to a question from Iran International on whether the Iranian delegation would be allowed to attend the UN General Assembly.

While the United States is generally obligated under the UN Headquarters Agreement to issue visas to representatives of member states, the Trump administration "will not waver in upholding American law and the highest standards of national security and public safety in the conduct of our visa process," a State Department spokesman said.

"Ensuring that foreign visitors to the United States do not pose a threat to US national security or public safety remains a paramount priority of the US government," the spokesperson added in response to Iran International's inquiry.

One proposal would prevent Iranian officials from shopping at wholesale clubs such as Costco and Sam’s Club without State Department permission. The AP said such stores have long been favored by Iranian diplomats, who buy large quantities of goods unavailable in Iran and send them home.

Three years ago, footage of then-President Ebrahim Raisi’s delegation in New York drew wide attention on social media, showing aides loading piles of goods with US retail labels into a truck outside their hotel.

The internal memo seen by AP also outlined possible curbs on delegations from Sudan, Zimbabwe and Brazil.

The report follows the Trump administration’s decision to revoke visas for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and more than 80 officials, blocking them from the UN meeting. Palestinian diplomats accredited to the UN mission were allowed to remain.

Security review for Iran

The State Department said last week that visas for Iran’s UNGA delegation are subject to a security review. In response to a query from Iran International, a spokesman said Washington “will not waver in upholding American law and the highest standards of national security and public safety in the conduct of our visa process.”

The spokesman added that ensuring foreign visitors pose no threat to US national security “remains a paramount priority.” The Department declined to say whether Iranian officials will be issued visas this year, citing visa confidentiality rules.

The decision to admit President Masoud Pezeshkian and his delegation last year drew criticism from Iranian diaspora groups and activists, despite their movements being restricted to a few blocks around the UN headquarters.

In 2019, then-Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was granted a visa under similar limits. The US has also refused visas in past years, including to Iran’s 2014 UN ambassador nominee over his role in the 1979 embassy takeover.

Syria waiver highlights contrast

The AP memo said the Trump administration last week lifted long-standing travel restrictions on Syria’s delegation to the UN. The move followed the ouster of President Bashar Assad last year and Washington’s effort to integrate Damascus into the Middle East.

“The Iranian regime has intensified its attempts to extinguish independent voices in the media," the department’s Persian-language account, @USABehFarsi, said in a post on X.

"Its recent decision to shut down the Journalists’ Association building is a direct assault on freedom of expression and the right of journalists to report without censorship."

The department added, "The people of Iran deserve transparency and the opportunity to be informed about the crimes this corrupt regime secretly commits.”

The Tehran Journalists’ Association itself denounced the eviction as a “blatant assault on trade union independence, the professional freedom of journalists and the pluralism of society.”

Its offices were sealed on August 20 by order of Tehran’s municipality, which is led by hardline mayor Alireza Zakani.

Authorities insist the move was procedural, citing the expiration of a two-year lease and plans for a street expansion project.

But the Committee to Protect Journalists rejected the explanation, urging the city to reverse course or provide the group with an alternate space.

“We strongly oppose the forced closure of the Tehran Journalists’ Association offices,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah in an online statement.

A member of Tehran’s City Council, Naser Amani, also criticized the decision, saying any changes to the contract should have first been reviewed by the council.

The move follows evictions targeting other civil society groups, including the Iranian Sociological Association and the House of Humanities Thinkers.

Press freedoms in Iran are tightly restricted, with state control over broadcasters and frequent arrests of journalists.

The crackdown has intensified since Iran’s 12-day war with Israel in June, with both domestic and diaspora reporters facing mounting repression.

Larijani, a former parliament speaker and veteran nuclear negotiator, was appointed last month to lead the powerful body in charge of key security decisions, where he also holds a parallel role as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's personal representative.

His mandate places him at the center of Tehran’s decision-making apparatus following a 12-day war with Israel in June, and his comments marked the most dovish yet on renewing US diplomacy by a top security official since the conflict.

“The path for negotiations with the US is not closed; yet these are the Americans who only pay lip service to talks and do not come to the table — and they wrongfully blame Iran for it,” Larijani wrote on X, posting on behalf of the council.

"WE INDEED PURSUE RATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS. By raising unrealizable issues such as missile restrictions, they set a path which negates any talks."

Speaking separately to Iranian media managers, Larijani dismissed Western demands that Iran scale back its missile program as unacceptable.

“The enemy says we must back down from our missile capability. Which honorable Iranian today would want to hand over his weapon to the enemy?” he said. “We also see negotiations as the path to resolving the nuclear issue. But by raising issues such as missiles, (it shows) they don’t want talks to take shape.”

His remarks underscore Tehran’s refusal to link missiles to nuclear diplomacy. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) restricted Iran’s nuclear program but did not directly address missiles. However, UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the deal, included language urging restraint on missile development.

Larijani argued that Washington is using the missile issue to derail diplomacy.

“At present, the Americans do not want to negotiate. After all, the war broke out at a time when we were in the middle of negotiations,” he said, referring to the recent 12-day war with Israel.

Larijani's comments come amid escalating nuclear tensions. Britain, France and Germany — the E3 — have triggered the UN’s “snapback” mechanism under Resolution 2231, seeking to restore pre-2015 sanctions over what they call Iran’s serious non-compliance.

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  Russia and China join Iran in denouncing European snapback move

Tehran, backed by Russia and China, has rejected the move as null and void. Iranian lawmakers have even threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if sanctions are reimposed.

The SNSC chief’s statement on Tuesday called restrictions on Iran’s missile program “unrealizable,” signaling that while Tehran insists negotiations remain possible, it will not make concessions on what it considers a core pillar of its defense doctrine.