The new US president’s order to prevent nationals of seven Muslim countries from entering the US, even though he has withdrawn from his stance and the order was suspended, indicates that the US and Israel are hostile toward Islam, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani said in an address to a large gathering of worshipers here in Tehran on Friday.
He further rejected the notion that the travel ban has been imposed on Muslims only for political reasons and said if the US wanted to consider political issues only, why has it imposed the ban on Iraqis or Somalians?
It is evident that the US and Israel have targeted Islam, the cleric went on to say.
Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 27 banning nationals temporarily from seven Muslim-majority nations, including Iran, from entering the US.
The ban was suspended by a lower court a week later and a federal appeals court on Thursday refused to reinstate it but Trump vowed to continue the legal battle for his order to stand.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office, in a statement on Friday, said he has asked Trump to remove his country from the travel ban list.