GOP, administration spar on new visa law’s impact on Iran

However, Zarif added, if the U.S. administration utilizes its power and officially announces, as did Secretary of State John Kerry, that the law will not prevent the implementation of the JCPOA, Iran will consider the issue and decide whether the law is a breach of the agreement or not.

In a letter to Kerry and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), and Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI) warned against changes to the new law.

The congressmen had appealed for increasing restrictions on the individuals who had travelled to certain countries, including Iran, from bypassing security checks upon entering the US.

The legislation, which was passed as part of the omnibus bill with bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Barack Obama, restricts the automatic granting of visas to individuals who have traveled to countries that have a high risk of terror involvement, like Iran.

The new visa rules prohibits visa-free travel to the United States by citizens of 38 European and other countries in the Visa Waiver Program if they have visited Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan since March 2011.

The Republicans emphasised that the legislation’s intent was “to strengthen security and keep the American people safe from terrorism and from foreign travelers who potentially pose a threat to our homeland” and not to allow the administration “to grant a blanket waiver to travellers from Iran in order to facilitate the implementation of the Iran deal”. Zarif complained over the weekend that the visa restrictions were a new sanction on Iran, which he believed would violate the nuclear deal.

The United States is violating the multi-lateral nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Wednesday.

“The clear objective of this proposed legislation is to enhance USA national security, not to affect trade and economic relations with Iran”, the official said.

“This contradicts the nuclear deal”, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani also noted.

The nuclear deal would terminate all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran after coming into force.

The dispute over Iran comes as civil libertarians and European Union officials express concern about unintended consequences of the law on tens of thousands of dual nationals – for example, European citizens born in the affected countries, who would now face new hurdles in traveling to the U.S. But Congress looks unlikely to revisit the issue.

Republicans tore into Kerry and the White House.