Zarif: Trump's Muslim ban 'great gift to extremists
Foreign Minister Javad Zarif says US president's restrictions on travellers 'shows baselessness' of US friendship.
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Javad Zarif said Trump's entry ban
'shows baselessness of the US claims of friendship with the Iranian people'
[Reuters]
Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has said US President Donald
Trump's decision to ban arrivals from seven Muslim-majority countries was
"a great gift to extremists", as Tehran takes retaliatory action on
US passport holders.
"Collective discrimination aids
terrorist recruitment by deepening faultlines exploited by extremist demagogues
to swell their ranks, Zarif posted on Twitter early on Sunday.
Zarif's statement followed an
announcement that Iran is taking "reciprocal measures", deferring the
issuance of visas to US passport holders.
He said the Trump's decision "shows baselessness of the US
claims of friendship with the Iranian people".
Zarif wrote that Tehran's decision to
ban entry of Americans "is not retroactive", and that all visitors
"with valid Iranian visa will be gladly welcomed".
The visa suspension stands until the US
government removes its own restrictions on Iranian nationals, he said, adding
that it is trying to differentiate the American people "and the hostile
policies of the US government".
On Friday, Trump signed a sweeping executive order to suspend
refugee arrivals and impose tough controls on travellers from Iran, Iraq,
Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Al Jazeera's Dorsa Jabbari, reporting
from Tehran, said Trump's decision is causing "a lot of concern"
among Iranians planning to travel to the US.
Iranians make up 45 percent of all US
visa holders coming from the seven countries covered in the ban.
More than a million Iranians live in
the United States.
Concern and anxiety
Jabbari said there was also anxiety about how the new order would
affect Iran's effort to open up the country to more tourists. A four-day international travel exhibition, attended by US travel
agencies, opens in Tehran on Sunday.
Travel agents in Tehran said that foreign airlines had begun
barring Iranians from US-bound flights.
In Tehran, two travel agencies told AFP they had been instructed
by Etihad Airways, Emirates and Turkish Airlines not to sell US tickets or
allow Iranians holding American visas to board US-bound flights.
An Iranian studying in California said
she could not now return because her ticket had been cancelled under the new
restrictions.
"I had a ticket for Turkish
Airlines on February 4, but it has been cancelled," the girl, who did not
wish to be identified, told AFP in Tehran.
On Saturday, Trump said his order is
"working out very nicely."
Iran's foreign ministry called the
decision "illegal, illogical and contrary to international rules".
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
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