Alwaght- Iran Slammed US new President's “insulting” decision to bar arrivals from the Islamic Republic and six other Muslim countries, promising to respond to the move in kind.
"While respecting the American people and distinguishing between them and the hostile policies of the U.S. government, Iran will implement the principle of reciprocity until the offensive US limitations against Iranian nationals are lifted," Iran Foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
“In order to protect the dignity of all the Iranian people inside and outside the country, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran will scrutinize the short-term and long-term outcomes of the decision by the US government on Iranian nationals and will take appropriate consular, legal and political measures,” the ministry added.
US President Donald Trump on Friday signed a sweeping executive order to suspend refugee arrivals and impose tough controls on travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The statement by the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Trump’s decision to ban visas was an “open affront” against the Iranian nation and the Muslim world.
The Iranian ministry said the visa restrictions run counter to Washington’s claims of countering terrorism and establishing security for the American people and would be marked in history “as a big gift presented to extremists and their supporters.”
At a time that the international community needs dialogue and collective efforts to uproot violence and extremism, the US government’s “injudicious” and discriminatory measure against Muslims would prepare the grounds for extremist terrorists to spread violence, it added.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry has adopted strategies to make appropriate decisions based on national interests, the statement said.
“The recent decision [made by] the United States of America includes illegal and irrational expectations which are against international law,” the ministry pointed out.
It warned that any US move to extend discriminatory measures against the Iranian nationals would be illegal and said the Islamic Republic reserves the right to react to any violation of international law by Washington.
UN agencies have already issued a joint statement calling on Washington to continue letting refugees into the country since “the US resettlement program is one of the most important in the world.”
Earlier, Iran urged Trump to refrain from erecting “walls between nations,” reacting to the recent order by the US President authorising the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico to curb illegal immigration from the country.
Trump’s Iranian entry ban is the latest spat in what appears to be simmering tensions between Washington and Tehran. Last week, the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, said his country reserves the right to “act appropriately” if Washington dishonours the so-called P5+1 deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
"We can very easily snap back and go back … not only to where we were, but a much higher position technologically speaking," Salehi said in an interview with Canada’s CBC News.
