The United States has approved Iran's president and foreign minister to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

According to the Associated Press, the U.S. State Department has confirmed it has approved senior Iranian officials including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to travel to New York to attend next week’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) high-level session. The State Department said Iran’s "core delegation" and necessary staff will be allowed to participate in UNGA events, but will face travel restrictions and are prohibited from purchasing luxury goods and other restricted items under U.S. policy. The U.S. noted that this year’s Iranian delegation is smaller than last year’s. The decision comes amid more than six months of ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran. To date, the two sides have made no significant progress on reopening the Strait of Hormuz or reviving Iran nuclear talks. As the host country of the UN headquarters, the U.S. is generally bound by host country obligations, making it difficult to block foreign leaders from attending UNGA. Previously, the U.S. has also issued limited visas to representatives of countries involved in conflicts and imposed restrictions on their areas of activity. The decision to approve visas for the Iranian delegation comes just one day after the U.S. rejected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his delegation’s request to attend UNGA.