Tehran has condemned the US travel ban on Iranians and citizens of 11 other predominantly Middle Eastern and African countries, deeming it a manifestation of a “racist mentality.” US travel restrictions target nationals from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, with a partial ban on travelers from seven other nations.
Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday, reinstating sweeping travel restrictions reminiscent of his first-term travel ban. This decision comes in the wake of a firebomb attack at a pro-Israel rally in Colorado, justifying the move on national security grounds.
Alireza Hashemi-Raja, the foreign ministry’s director general for the affairs of Iranians abroad, described the measure as an obvious sign of “supremacist and racist mentality” among American policymakers. He asserted that the decision exhibits a profound hostility of American policymakers toward the Iranian and Muslim people.
The ban, set to take effect on June 9, violates fundamental principles of international law and denies “hundreds of millions of people of the right to travel based solely on their nationality or religion.” The foreign ministry official remarked that the travel ban is discriminatory and would entail international responsibility for the US government.
Diplomatic relations between Iran and the US were severed shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and have remained strained since. The US hosts the largest Iranian community outside Iran, with approximately 1.5 million Iranians residing there as of 2020, according to figures from Tehran’s foreign ministry.
Trump’s executive order was issued days after an incident at a Colorado rally on June 2, during which over a dozen people were injured. The suspect, an Egyptian man who had overstayed a tourist visa, is in custody.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/07/iran-blasts-trump-for-racist-mentality-and-hostility-to-muslims-over-travel-ban
