TEHRAN: Tehran denounced on Saturday (Jun 7) the US journey ban on Iranians and residents of 11 different principally Center Japanese and African international locations, saying Washington’s choice 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 assault at a pro-Israel rally in Colorado.
Alireza Hashemi-Raja, the overseas ministry’s director normal 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 the direction of the Iranian and Muslim individuals”, he added in an announcement launched by the ministry.
Other than 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 international locations, together with Laos.
Hashemi-Raja stated the coverage “violates basic rules of worldwide legislation” and deprives “a whole bunch of tens of millions of individuals of the appropriate to journey based mostly solely on their nationality or faith”.
The overseas ministry official stated 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 dwelling to the biggest Iranian neighborhood exterior Iran.
In line with 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, wherein authorities stated greater than a dozen individuals had been harm. The suspect is an Egyptian man who had overstayed a vacationer visa.
