The appointment of Gholamali Khoshroo as Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations on Jan. 31 was an important development. Washington’s refusal to issue a visa for the previous appointee, Hamid Aboutalebi, for alleged involvement in the 1979 US Embassy hostage crisis, had left the position vacant for more than a year.
Tehran has an interests section in the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, but it is staffed by Iranian permanent residents of the United States, not diplomats. Thus, the Iranian UN Mission in New York functions as the Islamic Republic’s most important diplomatic outpost in North America. The influence of some Iranian diplomats who have served in New York or who have spent time in the United States is such that conservative foes have labeled them “NewYorki-haa” (the “New Yorkers”). What marks these individuals is their shared quest for a more constructive Iranian relationship with the West.