Iranian Official, Visiting NYC, Offers Condolences for ‘Esteemed Jihadist Commander’ behind Beirut Barracks Bombing

When the U.S. government sanctioned Javad Zarif, the veteran Iranian diplomat, in 2019, he took to social media to mock the move: “It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran.”

Zarif, it turns out, was correct. On Sunday night, he touched down at JFK International Airport with Iran’s delegation for the U.N.’s high-level week, led by Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian. The following day, he offered condolences for the recent death of Ibrahim Aqil, a Hezbollah commander who was wanted for his role in the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut and the U.S. Embassy there. He died in an Israeli air strike last week.

“In light of the martyrdom of the esteemed jihadist commander, the resilient martyr Ibrahim Aqil, who remained true to his commitment to God and lost his life in the vicious assault by the criminal Zionist regime, I offer my sincere congratulations and condolences,” Zarif said, in a statement published today by the Tehran Times, a regime-tied outlet.

Zarif went on to call Aqil — who was sanctioned by the U.S., which offered a $7 million award for information on him — and other “Islamic Resistance” commanders “heroic.”

The State Department appears to have admitted Pezeshkian, Zarif, and other Iranian personnel as Tehran carries out a sweeping effort to sabotage Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. The New York Times reported this summer that the Secret Service surged resources to Trump’s protective detail after the U.S. learned of a potential Iranian assassination plot targeting the former president.

It’s not immediately clear on what basis the State Department extended visas for any of the Iranian officials. It’s also not clear why it decided to admit Zarif despite the sanctions that apply to him, though the 2019 designation froze any of his assets under U.S. jurisdiction without banning him from entering the U.S. In the past, the department has cited its obligations under the treaty that governs U.N. members’ access to the headquarters in NYC. Although the U.S. has an obligation to let foreign dignitaries into the country to access the building, there are exemptions under that agreement for security reasons.

There is precedent for declining to extend Zarif a visa: The Trump administration blocked him from visiting New York to give a speech on the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020.

Zarif’s role is “vice president for strategic affairs,” a title that apparently gives him a role in engaging the U.S. of a stature similar to that of foreign minister. In practice, it appears to mean that he’s leaning on his Rolodex of Western contacts to advance Iran’s agenda this week. When Pezeshkian met reporters at the Iranian delegation’s hotel earlier today, Zarif was right up at the podium with him, pictures from the event showed.