Carter: ‘Inappropriate’ For U.S. To Block Member Of Terrorist Group From Entering Country
” Former President Jimmy Carter yesterday said he is supportive of letting a known member of a terrorist group, Hamid Aboutalebi, into the United States as Iran’s newest ambassador to the United Nations.
Aboutalebi was a member of the Muslim student group who held 52 Americans hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for more than a year beginning in 1979 during Carter’s presidency.
When asked in an interview if the United States should block Aboutalebi’s entrance to U.N. headquarters in New York, Carter told radio station WTOP: “You know, those were college students at that time, and I think that they have matured. …I think it would be inappropriate for the United States to try to block someone that Iran wanted to choose.”
While Aboutalebi claims that he was not part of the initial hostage takeover, he admits that he was a part of the organization that carried it out. According to Iranian-American activist Banafesh Zand, Aboutalebi served as a translator at a news conference hosted by the militant group just weeks after the takeover. He was 22 years old at the time.”
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