(JNS.org) President Barack Obama, whose administration already said it would deny a visa to newly appointed Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Hamid Aboutalebi, on Friday signed a law that bars Aboutalebi from entering the U.S. The U.N. headquarters is located in New York City.

Aboutalebi was part of an extremist student group that stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, taking 52 U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days. The law signed by Obama bars entry into the U.S. by any proposed U.N. representative who has engaged in espionage or terrorism or who may pose a threat to national security.