The United States has refused to issue visas for members of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's delegation, including his communications team, for this week's trip to the UN General Assembly, Iranian state media reported Monday.
Pezeshkian will be the highest-ranking Iranian official to enter the United States since the Middle East war began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.
"In an unprecedented hostile move by the US government, (US President Donald) Trump has denied US visas to certain members of the president's high-level delegation, including members of his communications team," state news agency IRNA reported.
The Mehr news agency also carried the story, citing a spokesperson for the Iranian presidency, and added that Pezeshkian will address the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
The US has authorised the Iranian delegation to travel for the UN General Assembly but will, like last year, put restrictions in place.
Iran's delegation will not, for instance, be allowed to purchase luxury goods or other items, the State Department said on Thursday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, part of the delegation to the UN, left Iran on Sunday evening for a stopover in Qatar.
Iran says it has conveyed to the US, via Qatar as mediator, conditions for reopening the strategic Strait of Hormuz oil and gas shipping route, which it has choked off since the war began.
The United States, in turn, is imposing a counterblockade of Iranian ports.
Trump ‘reversed' decision on airstrikes on Houthis
US President Donald Trump has changed his strategy on Yemen several times, The New York Times reported on Sunday, torn between Saudi pressure to strike the Iran-backed Houthis and the risk of opening another front in the Middle East war.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement has staged a lightning offensive in recent weeks to take over the country's entire Red Sea coast, leaving the Saudi-backed government scrambling to respond.
The New York Times said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump on Sunday "to implore him, again, to step in to help blunt the rapidly advancing group."
Trump had told his advisers the day before that he opposed strikes but changed his mind after the call and "told the Pentagon to prepare for airstrikes against the Houthis," the newspaper reported, citing anonymous administration officials.
However, he appeared to have reversed his decision again by midday Sunday, it said.
Trump's decision to pull back from striking the Houthis came as "commanders had approved target lists, troops were loading bombs onto US warplanes selected for the missions and the wave of attacks was just about to begin," the Times said, citing two people briefed on the operation.
US news platform Axios said Trump had already refused a Saudi request to strike the Houthis last week.
Fox News reported on Sunday that Trump had said the Houthis have agreed not to hit US targets.
The war in the Middle East began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, after which the Islamic republic responded with attacks around the region.
Iran-backed groups including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon also later became involved.
The war in impoverished Yemen, which began in 2014 with the Houthi capture of the capital Sanaa, had been largely frozen since 2022 but resumed in July.
Saudi Arabia has led a coalition backing the internationally recognised government since 2015. Its intervention escalated the war, which has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
'Unknown projectile' strikes tanker in Hormuz
Two crew members were injured after an "unknown projectile" hit their tanker in the Strait of Hormuz Monday, a British maritime agency said, where vessels have come under repeated attack amid the Middle East war.
Tehran seeks to maintain a stranglehold on the waterway in its war with the United States. Washington has also kept up a counterblockade of Iranian ports.
"Military authorities have informed UKMTO that a tanker conducting an inbound transit was struck by an unknown projectile," said the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
"Two crew have sustained minor injuries and the vessel is reported to be continuing to its next port of call under its own power," it added.
Earlier this month, Iran announced an expansion of its no-go area to outside the strategic waterway, adding parts of the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea to a new "prohibited zone".