A new American Law that would limit visa free travel, if implemented, would violate the newly reached nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers, said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Times of Israel reported that the new US bill passed by Congress December prohibits people who have visited Iran and those with Iranian nationality from travelling to the US visa-free. This bill was included in a large spending bill that President Barack Obama signed Friday.
This could have detrimental effects on the victoriously agreed upon nuclear deal in July. That deal required Iran to decrease its nuclear activity in exchange for Western nations to relieve the country from its many economic sanctions.
According to Iran, being included in the list of countries that can't travel to US without visa undermines the JCPOA nuclear deal. Zarif said, "If the Congress law is implemented as it is, it would definitely be a breach (of JCPOA)." Zarif told US Secretary of State John Kerry about the issue during their meeting in New York just this month, hoping that this measure would be stopped to avoid any obstacles on the JCPOA agreement.
According to Reuters, the new measure also applies to Sudan, Iraq, and Syria. It is a security measure after the Paris and San Bernardino attacks, which were carried out by the Islamic State.
The New York Times wrote that Sudan and Iran were included in the new US bill since these countries are included in the list of state sponsors of terrorism for years. However, majority of people in Iran are Shiite and are against Sunni fundamentalist. This nation even helps to fight the terrorist groups.
Some Iranian officials even believe that the new visa law was made to sabotage the JCPOA deal. The agreement is expected to take effect early 2016. This would even make it more difficult for European people who have Iranian stamp on their passports to go to the US.
