Under the new regulation, any Iranian diplomat who is visiting New York is prohibited from buying certain items in the US, from essential items in supermarkets for wholesale to many other luxury items without permission from the US State Department.
The US State Department said that shopping at supermarkets for wholesale or luxury goods is a privilege of US citizens, emphasizing that this cannot be easily achieved even by foreign diplomats.
The regulation states: Iranian diplomats and their relatives must assign permission from the US State Department before registering or maintaining membership cards at any wholesale supermarket in the US, including but not limited to Costco, Sams Club, or BJs Wholesale Club, as well as before purchasing from these stores in any form.
Not stopping there, they also have to ask for permission to buy luxury items worth over $1,000 and cars over $60,000, according to Clifton Seagroves, head of the US State Department's Foreign missions office.
The luxury goods list includes: watches, leather clothes, silk and accessories, real or fake shoes, belly, handbags, wallets, pens, cosmetics, perfume, artworks, antiques, carpets, pearls, gemstones, precious metals, electronics, musical instruments, cigarettes, wine, strong wine and beer.
These measures were actually signed on September 16 and 18. This is part of a series of visa tightening measures by the Trump administration, including for leaders and diplomats visiting the US to attend meetings at the United Nations.
The Trump administration has also previously refused to issue visas to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and a large delegation to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
In addition to Iran, Washington is considering imposing similar restrictions on the Sudanese, Zimbabwean and Brazilian delegations.
Shops like Costco are already popular with Iranian diplomats in New York because they can buy large quantities of non-domestic goods at cheap prices and then send them to Iran.
