US partially reinstating travel ban 'regrettable': Iran FM

BERLIN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif condemned on Tuesday the US Supreme Court’s decision to partially reinstate President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban targeting citizens from six predominantly Muslim countries.

“It’s regrettable that the citizens of the countries on the list have never participated in any act of terrorism against the US and yet they are being punished for acts of terrorism by citizens of other countries which are not on the list,” said Zarif.

The travel ban “doesn’t help, it doesn’t increase anybody’s security,” added the minister, speaking to journalists after a meeting with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel in Berlin.

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“The problem is, for some, terrorism and support for terrorism is measured by the amount of money they spend buying arms from the US and not by actually being involved in terrorism,” charged Zarif, in what appeared to be a reference to Saudi Arabia.

Trump, on his first foreign trip, visited the kingdom and sealed arms deals worth almost $110 billion (98 billion euros).

The US Supreme Court on Monday partially reinstated the travel ban restricting citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Nevertheless, the court said the ban could not be implemented against people who have personal links to the US, citing the examples of foreign nationals wishing to visit family or students accepted to attend university.