The American Iranian Council strongly rejects the Trump administration’s new executive order banning nearly all immigration to the United States from Iran and six other countries.  Under President Trump’s latest order, the ban on immigration from Iran will be indefinite with exceptions only for students, exchange scholars, and individuals with existing valid visas. Even individuals who have “bona fide connections” to the United States, including close family members of US citizens, will no longer be able to enter the country. The American Iranian Council believes that such a blanket ban on the immigration of Iranians will be neither effective in reducing the risk of terrorism against the United States, nor successful in promoting American interests.

First, this ban, like its prior version, does not target countries with citizens who have a history of terrorist attacks on the United States (e.g., the terrorists of September 11).  Moreover, Iran’s continued inclusion in the ban strains credulity as not a single Iranian has ever committed an act of terror against Americans on the US homeland.