New US Visa Rule to Deepen Mistrust: Iran’s Shamkhani
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The US Congress’ move to make changes in US visa waiver program will only deepen Tehran’s mistrust, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said, adding that the decision could hamper the implementation of a July nuclear deal between Iran and world power
Certain moves and decisions, like a new bill that the US House of Representatives passed to tighten visa-free travel to the US and President Barack Obama signed into law, will definitely cause further misunderstanding and deepen mistrust, Ali Shamkhani said on Monday.
He made the comments in a meeting with President of the French Senate Gerard Larcher in Tehran.
Shamkhani also noted that the US measure will have “irreparable effects on the process of implementing the JCPOA commitments.”
According to a bill, which was passed in the US House by 407 to 19 on December 8, visitors from the 38 “visa waiver” countries will need to obtain a visa to travel to the US if they have been to Syria, Iraq, Iran or Sudan in the past five years.
On Friday, US lawmakers sent Obama a huge tax and spending package, which also included reforms of the US visa waiver program. The president quickly signed it into law before leaving Washington for his annual holiday vacation.
The controversy comes a few weeks before implementation of the JCPOA, a lasting nuclear deal signed between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) in July.
The final nuclear deal, known as a big confidence-building step in relations between Iran and the West, is going to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran after being implemented.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry sent a letter to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, giving an assurance that Washington will remain committed to the JCPOA and underlining that the US administration has “a number of potential tools available” to prevent the visa law from stifling the nuclear deal.