TEHRAN: Tehran denounced on Saturday (Jun 7) the US travel ban on Iranians and residents of 11 different largely Center Japanese and African nations, saying Washington’s determination was an indication of a “racist mentality”.
US President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday an government order reviving sweeping restrictions that echo his first-term journey ban, justified on nationwide safety grounds following a firebomb attack at a pro-Israel rally in Colorado.
Alireza Hashemi-Raja, the overseas ministry’s director common for the affairs of Iranians overseas, known as the measure, which takes impact on Jun 9, “a transparent signal of the dominance of a supremacist and racist mentality amongst American policymakers”.
The choice “signifies the deep hostility of American decision-makers in direction of the Iranian and Muslim individuals”, he added in an announcement launched by the ministry.
Aside from Iran, the US ban targets nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. A partial ban was additionally imposed on travellers from seven different nations, together with Laos.
Hashemi-Raja mentioned the coverage “violates basic rules of worldwide regulation” and deprives “lots of of hundreds of thousands of individuals of the correct to journey based mostly solely on their nationality or faith”.
The overseas ministry official mentioned that the ban was discriminatory and would “entail worldwide accountability for the US authorities”, with out elaborating.
Iran and the US severed diplomatic ties shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and relations have remained deeply strained since.
The US is house to the biggest Iranian neighborhood outdoors Iran.
Based on figures from Tehran’s overseas ministry, in 2020 there have been some 1.5 million Iranians within the US.
Trump’s government order got here days after Sunday’s assault on the Colorado rally, during which authorities mentioned greater than a dozen individuals have been harm. The suspect is an Egyptian man who had overstayed a vacationer visa.
