The United States has informed Iran that it will not issue a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi, Tehran's newly appointed ambassador to the United Nations, the White House said on Friday.

"We have informed the United Nations and Iran that we will not issue a visa to Mr. Aboutalebi," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a press briefing.

US House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation by unanimous consent that would ban Aboutalebi from entering the United States. The vote came after the Senate passed a companion bill on Monday.

Lawmakers sponsoring the bill said that Aboutalebi should be banned from entry to the United States because he was a member of a militant group that held 52 Americans hostage when it seized the US embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Carney said the Obama administration shares the intent of the bill passed by Congress and is reviewing the legislation.

"We will work to address any issues related to its utility and constitutionality, but we share the intent of the bill," he said.

Iran's Foreign Ministry has slammed the US stance on the new ambassador as "unacceptable."