Iraq Parliament Asks Government to ‘Reciprocate’ US Travel Curbs

Rasa - Iraqi parliament's foreign affairs committee said Sunday the US travel curbs imposed on Iraqis were “unfair,” and asked the government in Baghdad to “reciprocate” to the American decision.

News ID: 426934

Date: 29 January 2017 - 22:51

RNA - The committee made its call after a meeting in Baghdad in response to Trumps executive order which ban citizens of Iraq and six other Muslim nations to enter the US, Iraqi News reported.

“We ask the Iraqi government to reciprocate to the decision taken by the US administration,” said the committee in a statement read to Reuters by one its members, Hassan Shwerid.

“Iraq is in the front line of the war of terrorism..., and it is unfair that the Iraqis are treated in this way.”

Over the weekend , the US President Donald Trump issued an order freezing for 90 days the issuance of visas for immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia for national security considerations. The move caused a state of chaos across world airports as authorities and US embassies began to implement the directives. Protests broke out in the US against the move.

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization on Sunday called on the Iraqi government to ban US nationals from entering Iraq and to expel those who are already in the country, in a reaction to the new US travel curbs on Iraqis.

Popular Mobilization is a coalition of local forces to fight ISIL terror group. It became an Iraqi government-approved body last year.

The call to ban US nationals came in a statement published by its spokesman, Ahmed al-Assadi. On Sunday, the US embassy in Iraq said it was implementing the new directives.

Iraq plans to lobby the US administration to mitigate the impact of the new travel curbs on Iraqis, to preserve cooperation in the war on ISIL, two members of parliament, who declined to be identified, told media on Sunday.

The Iraqi government has so far declined to comment on the executive order.

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