"technical problem"
WASHINGTON, March 8 - An American scholar who was instrumental in getting the head of the Library of Congress invited to Iran for an official conference in November has suspended his own five-year effort to build bridges between the two countries after he and a colleague were turned away at the Tehran airport in separate incidents last month.
The scholar, Jeremy J. Stone, had been traveling at the invitation of the Iranian government to attend a ceremony of Iran's National Library and to hear an address by the Iranian president, Mohammed Khatami. In a written statement on Tuesday, Mr. Stone said he had been carrying a valid visa issued by Iran's interest section in Washington.
He said Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Zavad Jarif, had since expressed "deepest regrets" for the incident, saying that it was owing to a misunderstanding and that "steps were being taken to avoid its repetition."
A spokesman for Iran's mission to the United Nations, Mortezar Ramandi, said by telephone on Tuesday that Mr. Stone and Mr. Kniffel had been turned away because of a "technical problem."
www.nytimes.com
ادامه مطلب
""technical problem""
