Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Friday criticized the travel ban placed on citizens of his country by U.S. President Donald Trump as a “shameful exhibition of blind hostility.”
On Twitter, Zarif said that the ban prevented “Iranian grandmothers from being able to see their grandchildren” and was motivated by the U.S.’ “visceral hatred” of Iran.
The ban, which affects people travelling to the US from six predominantly Muslim countries, including Iran, was introduced after the U.S. Supreme Court partially upheld Trump’s executive order on Monday.
The U.S. judges amended the order to provide exceptions for anyone able to prove a “bona fide relationship” with someone already living in the US, such as a spouse, parent, child or sibling.
However the exception does not extend to grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces, hence Zarif’s comments.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry had previously criticised the ban as discriminatory and racist.
The Supreme Court allowed the federal government to enforce the 90-day ban on issuing new visas for individuals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who have “no connection to the U.S. at all.”
New approvals for admissions of refugees from all countries will be halted for 120 days.
The state of Hawaii filed a challenge to the ban, arguing that the government had “announced it intended to violate” the Supreme Court decision by taking a narrower view of the family relationships that qualify a foreigner to exemption from the ban.(dpa/NAN)