US wrestlers barred from Iran in retaliation for Trump visa ban
As US-Iran relations deteriorate over visa bans and missile launches, sports exchanges are collateral damage.
Iran has banned US wrestlers from participating in a major competition this month in retaliation for the Donald Trump administration’s decision to bar ordinary Iranians from visiting the United States.
The announcement marks a significant blow to people-to-people exchanges with Iran, which had been on the upswing during Barack Obama’s presidency.
The official IRNA news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying that a special committee had looked into the issue. The committee was “opposed to [the] presence of the team after necessary studies,” Qasemi said.
On Jan. 27, the Trump administration without notice imposed a three-month ban on visitors from Iran and six other majority Muslim countries, causing chaos at airports around the world and massive protests in major American cities.
