TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has dismissed as fake news that biological assassination has taken place against Tehran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi, who is now under treatment in a hospital in New York.

Zarif said that Takht Ravanchi was not aware about his disease till he took office as the country’s UN envoy, adding that his cancer was diagnosed in New York. 

He further said that the ambassador has undergone surgery in New York and is now under chemotherapy treatment. 

“If we had been aware about his cancer problem before his departure to New York, we would have certainly begun his treatment in Iran,” Zarif emphasized, adding that the medical team in New York called for Takht Ravanchi’s immediate surgery.

In late September, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi, in a message on his Instagram page, lashed out at Washington for inhumanly preventing Zarif from paying a visit to Takht Ravanchi at the hospital.

Araqchi expressed regret that the U.S. administration is holding humanitarian issues hostage for political aims.

The reaction came after American authorities forbade Zarif from visiting Takht Ravanchi.

The U.S. State Department had said it would allow the hospital travel request only if Iran released one of the U.S. citizens claimed to be "wrongfully detained" in Iran.

MJ/PA