Iran's Deputy FM: Europeans Discontent with US Visa Waiver Program

Iran's Deputy FM: Europeans Discontent with US Visa Waiver Program

 

His remarks came after the US senate passed a bill related to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) which allows citizens of 38 countries — namely European states, Australia, Japan and South Korea — to travel to the United States without having to obtain a visa but excludes from this program all dual nationals from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan, and anyone else who has traveled to those countries in the past five years. The bill came into force in January.

"The Europeans are naturally not happy with this situation (US visa waiver program) ... and of course Iran believes that it is against the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)," Takht Ravanchi told reporters on Monday.

He pointed to the visit of EU's deputy foreign policy chief Helga Schmidt to Iran, and said, "I and (Deputy Foreign Minister) Seyed Abbas Araqchi met Schmidt today and discussed the latest status of the JCPOA implementation."

Asked about the allegations by a US website on new construction activities in Parchin, Takht Ravanchi responded, "I have not seen this news report, but this issue is our internal affair and our military issues are no way related to the other countries as we have said in the negotiations that military topics are not related to nuclear issues... ."

Facing the opposition in later December, US Secretary of State John Kerry sent a letter to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on changes in the US Visa Waiver Program to promise Washington's efforts to nullify the Israeli-sponsored senate approval.

"After 10 days of hard and intensive talks between the Iranian foreign minister and nuclear team with the US and European sides in New York, Vienna, Brussels and Tehran on the approval of the US congress's new visa program which was approved as a part of the budget bill as a result of the Zionist lobby's attempts and had almost disempowered the US president of veto right, US Secretary of State Mr. John Kerry in a letter to Iranian Foreign Minister Mr. Mohammad Javad Zarif explicitly assured him that using all instruments under its authority, the US administration will not allow the law to create any obstacle to Iran's economic interests," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said.

According to Jaber Ansari, Kerry had underlined in his letter that the US is fully committed to the termination of the sanctions based on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and its undertakings based on the agreements in the JCPOA.

Kerry had also stressed that the US administration would implement changes in the visa waiver program in a way that they wouldn't trouble other countries' trade and economic cooperation with Iran, adding that the administration has numerous instruments which can stop implementation of the law within the domain of the president's authorities, he said.