WASHINGTON, Sept 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump gave the State Department the authority to bar senior Iranian officials and their family members from entering the United States as immigrants or non-immigrants, the White House said in a proclamation.
The proclamation, posted on the White House website and bearing Wednesday’s date, repeated US accusations that Iran sponsors terrorism, arbitrarily detains American citizens, threatens its neighbours and carries out destructive cyber attacks.
“Given that this behaviour threatens peace and stability in the Middle East and beyond, I have determined that it is in the interest of the United States to take action to restrict and suspend the entry into the United States, as immigrants or non-immigrants, of senior government officials of Iran, and their immediate family members,” Trump said in the proclamation.
The US-Iranian confrontation has ratcheted up since last year, when Trump withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy. Trump wants to go beyond that deal to further curb Iran’s nuclear programme, halt its ballistic missile work and end its support for proxy forces in the Middle East.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani earlier said the United States would have to “pay more” if it wanted a wider deal and rejected meeting with the U.S. president for now.
Both men were in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly gathering of world leaders.
Trump gave the authority to decide who would be covered by the proclamation to the secretary of state, or whomever he or she designates.
Trump also provided exceptions, saying that among others the proclamation would not apply to lawful US permanent residents, those granted asylum, or refugees already admitted to the United States. He also provided possible exceptions for people whose entry “would further important … law enforcement objectives.”
Separately, the United States announced sanctions on Chinese companies for buying Iranian oil, stepping up pressure despite European attempts to arrange talks between Washington and Tehran.
Speaking to a pressure group opposed to the Iranian regime on the sidelines of the United Nations, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the actions were in response to violations of unilateral US sanctions.
“We’re telling China, and all nations – know that we will sanction every violation of sanctions of all activity,” Pompeo told United Against a Nuclear Iran.
He said that sanctions were being placed both on the companies and on their chief executives.
Pompeo said that the United States was also aiming to split the elite Revolutionary Guards from the rest of the Iranian company.
The unit, known formally as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is in charge of protecting the regime and has vast business holdings.
“The United States will intensify our efforts to educate countries and companies on the risk of doing business with IRGC entities, and we will punish them if they persist in defiance of our warnings,” Pompeo said.
The actions come as France leads last-minute efforts to arrange a meeting at the United Nations between US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani to defuse tensions. — NNN-AGENCIES
