Lawmakers said the new travel ban unmasks the true animosity of the US administration toward the Iranian nation, noting that such steps would make bonds between Iranian expatriates and their home country stronger.
In a recent talk with ICANA, lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said the US tries to show that its actions are targeting the Iranian government, but the extension of the anti-immigration ban shows that their real problem is with the Iranian nation.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday imposed new travel restrictions on citizens from North Korea, Venezuela and Chad, expanding to eight the list of countries covered by his original travel bans that have been derided by critics and challenged in court.
Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia were left on the list of affected countries in a new proclamation issued by the president. Restrictions on citizens from Sudan were lifted.
The proclamation marks the administration’s desire to limit travel into the United States after Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the US on the campaign trail.
Falahatpisheh pointed to the large community of Iranian expatriates living in the US, saying that “now they realize that it is the Iranian government that supports them and countries like America, which owe a great deal of their development in science and technology to Iranian know-how, look down on them as strangers”.
Fake Empathy
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described as “fake empathy” Trump’s maiden speech to the United Nations where he tried to portray his government as friends of the Iranian nation and only hostile to the government.
“Trump’s fake empathy for Iranians rings ever more hollow, with his new and even more offensive travel ban against such outstanding citizens,” Zarif tweeted.
It is estimated that more than one million Iranians live in the United States.
Iranians have been the target of US travel ban while there has not been any example of an Iranian staging a terrorist activity, or even abetting one in the US.
Ironically, Saudi Arabia, whose nationals made up 15 out of the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 attacks, are not included in the list.
Lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeqi said the new travel ban contradicts US claims of having no limits on scientific exchanges, adding that the ban would only tarnish US international and political standing.
Sadeqi noted that imposing limits on issuing visas would restrict the travel of scientists and experts to and from the US, saying that Iran must urge those who immigrated to the US to return to their home country.
“In fact, the Islamic Republic can turn this anti-immigration challenge into an opportunity,” he concluded.
