Iran has banned American wrestlers from competing in a World Cup competition by denying them visas in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order from last week on immigration, the IRNA news agency reported on Friday.
The report quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi as saying the case was looked into by a special committee but that “unfortunately we were forced to take this step, based on the latest developments’’.
Under Trump’s executive order citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iran, are banned from entering the U.S.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
Iran said it would retaliate and the American wrestlers were now banned although several Iran media had called for their planned presence at the freestyle World Cup meet Feb. 16 and 17 in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah.
Wrestling is very popular in both countries. American wrestlers have regularly competed in Iran, and Iranian wrestlers in the U.S., over the past two decades.
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