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A senior Iranian official has lambasted U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban on several countries, including Iran, saying it showed Washington’s “deep hostility” toward Iranians, IRNA news agency reported.
Alireza Hashemi-Raja, the director general for Iranian expatriates at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said in a statement on Saturday that the decision was “racist and in violation of international law.”
“The U.S. administration’s decision to ban the entry of Iranian nationals – merely due to their religion and nationality – not only indicates the deep hostility of American decision-makers towards the Iranian people and Muslims but also violates fundamental principles of international law, including the principle of non-discrimination and [respect for] basic human rights,” Hashemi-Raja said, according to the Iranian IRNA news agency.
Denying hundreds of millions of people the right to travel solely based on their nationality or religion constitutes “racial discrimination and systemic racism within the U.S. ruling establishment,” the official added.
He urged the United Nations and human rights bodies to openly oppose Washington’s “unilateral and discriminatory measures”, saying that the Islamic Republic of Iran will spare no effort to protect the rights of its citizens and counter the “consequences of the U.S. administration’s discriminatory actions.”
US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday evening to ban travel from several countries to the US, citing security risks.
The ban will fully restrict entry of nationals from 12 countries: Afghanistan; Myanmar, also known as Burma; Chad; Republic of the Congo; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Haiti; Iran; Libya; Somalia; Sudan; and Yemen.
People from seven countries will have partial restriction: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The proclamation includes exceptions for lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, certain visa categories and individuals whose entry serves US national interests, CNN reported.
The president made the final call on signing the proclamation after the antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado, CNN reported citing a White House official. He was considering it beforehand, but Sunday’s assault put it into motion faster. The suspect in the attack, however, was an Egyptian national, and Egypt was not included on the list of banned countries, CNN reported.
“President Trump is fulfilling his promise to protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors that want to come to our country and cause us harm,” White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson wrote on X.
“These commonsense restrictions are country-specific and include places that lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information,” she wrote.
Trump said in a video posted Wednesday that new countries could be added to the travel ban as “threats emerge around the world.”