The former head of the U.S.’s military alliance now needs to fight to get into the country.
Javier Solana, a former Foreign Affairs Minister from Spain, served Secretary General of NATO in the late 1990s and holds various positions in the U.S., but was not allowed a visa waiver because he has been to Iran.
The 75-year-old was set to give a speech as the Brookings Institution in Washington, but was not able to obtain the waiver available to many Europeans that normally lets Spanish citizens stay in the U.S. for three months.
Solana said Monday that his application through the electronic visa waiver system was rejected.
Previously an official for the European Union, Solana played a role in negotiating the deal where Iran agreed to curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
He traveled to Iran for the inauguration of Hassan Rouhani, the reformist president who helped shape and seal the deal before its future was cast into question when President Trump pulled out of it earlier this year.
Trump railed against the deal as the worst in history and quit it despite warnings from European allies, who he has continued to alienate by lambasting them over trade.
But the policy that rejected Solana’s entry into the U.S. came as a result of an Obama era policy with a state purpose of nationality security to increase vetting of those entering the country, and now targets those who have traveled to Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The Spanish told El Pais that he was already completing the paperwork for a new visa process the traditional way, which is much longer and more expensive.
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