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US Bars Palestinian Leader Abbas from UN as Allies Back Statehood
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas looks on as he visits the Istishari Cancer Center in Ramallah, in the West Bank, May 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman
The United States said on Friday it would not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York next month for a United Nations gathering of world leaders, where several US allies are set to recognize Palestine as a state.
A State Department official said Abbas and about 80 other Palestinians would be affected by the decision to deny and revoke visas from members of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
Abbas had planned to attend the annual high-level U.N. General Assembly in Manhattan. He was also set to attend a summit there, where Britain, France, Australia and Canada have pledged to formally recognize a Palestinian state.
Abbas’ office said it was astonished by the visa decision and said it violated the U.N. “headquarters agreement.”
Under a 1947 U.N. “headquarters agreement”, the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the U.N. in New York. However, Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Abbas, called on Saturday for Washington to reconsider its decision.
“We call on the US administration to reverse this decision, which contradicts international law, specifically the Headquarters Agreement between the United Nations and the United States, which prohibits preventing any delegation from access,” he told Reuters.
Several European foreign ministers arriving at a European Union meeting in Copenhagen on Saturday criticized the US decision.
A UN General Assembly “cannot be subject to any restrictions on access,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris said the EU should protest the decision “in the strongest possible terms.”
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a statement on Saturday that he had spoken with Abbas to express Madrid’s support and he called the visa decision “unjust.”
“Palestine has the right to make its voice heard at the United Nations and in all international forums,” he said on X.
The State Department justified its decision by reiterating longstanding US and Israeli allegations that the PA and PLO had failed to repudiate extremism while pushing for “unilateral recognition” of a Palestinian state.
Palestinian officials reject such allegations and say decades of US-mediated talks have failed to end Israeli occupation and secure an independent state of Palestine.
“(It) is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” the department said.
The State Department said the Palestinian Authority’s mission to the U.N., comprising officials who are permanently based there, would not be included in the restrictions.
RECOGNITION
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the U.N. would discuss the visa issue with the State Department.
In 1988, the US refused to issue a visa to PLO leader Yasser Arafat. The U.N. General Assembly held a meeting that year in Geneva instead of New York so he could address it.
The State Department said it demands that the PA and PLO “consistently repudiate terrorism,” including the deadly October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.
In June, Abbas wrote a letter to France’s president in which he condemned the Hamas attack and called on hostages taken by the militant group to be released.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed the State Department’s decision.
Israel and the US are upset with several Western allies who have pledged to recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. next month.
At least 147 of the 193 U.N. member states already recognize a Palestinian state. The Palestinians have observer status at the U.N., the same as the Holy See (Vatican).
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Israel ‘Concerned’ with Russia’s Violation of Estonian Airspace as Tallin Requests NATO Article 4 Consultation
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar speaks next to High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas, and EU commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica as they hold a press conference on the day of an EU-Israel Association Council with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
i24 News – Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Saturday that Jerusalem was “concerned” with the violation of Estonian airspace by Russian jets.
This comes after three Russian military jets violated NATO member Estonia’s airspace for 12 minutes on Friday in what its government branded an “unprecedentedly brazen” incursion. It is the latest in a series of recent military actions by Russia that have rattled the alliance.
Earlier this month Poland shot down Russian drones in its airspace with the backing of aircraft from its NATO allies.
Tallin meanwhile decided to request NATO Article 4 consultations over the violation, Prime Minister Kristen Michal said on Friday. Article 4 stipulates that members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will consult together whenever, in the view of any of them, the territory, political independence or security of any of them comes under threat.
US President Donald Trump made it clear he was not pleased with the situation.
“I don’t love it. I don’t like when that happens. Could be big trouble,” Trump told reporters.
NATO polices the airspace of Estonia and other Baltic nations in its “Baltic Sentry” mission.
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Pezeshkian Says Iran Can Overcome Any Return of Sanctions
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed on Saturday that Iran would overcome any reimposition of sanctions on it through a so-called “snapback” process, after the U.N. Security Council voted not to permanently lift sanctions on Tehran.
“Through the ‘snapback’ they block the road, but it is the brains and the thoughts that open or build the road,” Pezeshkian said in remarks carried by state television.
“They cannot stop us. They can strike our Natanz or Fordow (nuclear installations attacked by the US and Israel in June), But they are unaware that it is humans who built and will rebuild Natanz,” Pezeshkian said.
The Security Council move came on Friday after Britain, France and Germany launched a 30-day process last month to reimpose sanctions, accusing Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies having any such intention.
“We will never surrender in the face of excessive demands because we have the power to change the situation,” Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by state media.
The “snapback” process would reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran unless an agreement is reached on a delay between Tehran and key European powers within about a week.
The snapback would reimpose an arms embargo, a ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing, a ban on activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, a global asset freeze and travel bans on Iranian individuals and entities.
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US Seeks Congressional Approval to Sell $6 Billion in Arms to Israel
The U.S. Capitol building is seen in Washington, U.S., December 6, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/Files
i24 News – The US administration of President Donald Trump is seeking congressional approval for a weapons deal with Israel to the tune of some $6 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
While the proposed deal was first sent to congressional leaders before Israel’s controversial strike in Doha—targeting the leadership of Hamas, the jihadist Palestinian group with which Israel is at war—it is understood the incident had no effect on the administration’s willingness to push the sale through the legislature.
The proposed sales include a $3.8 billion deal for 30 AH-64 Apache helicopters and a $1.9 billion deal for 3,250 infantry assault vehicles, the report said, citing official documents.
The arms would be paid for by US-provided foreign military financing, according to the documents.
Presently, the administration is seeking the approval of the four top Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, it is understood.
The leaders of the two panels usually must sign off on major foreign weapons deals before the administration sends wider notification to Congress and the public.