iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Iran announced Sunday that it has lifted its ban on U.S. wrestlers from attending the freestyle World Cup later this month in the Iranian city of Kermanshah — a retaliatory move announced Friday, in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order forbidding visas for Iranians.
“Following the court ruling suspending #MuslimBan & the requests from Iranian Wrestling Federation & FILA, US Wrestlers’ visa will be granted,” tweeted Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s minister of foreign affairs.
Following the court ruling suspending #MuslimBan & the requests from Iranian Wrestling Federation & FILA, US Wrestlers’ visa will be granted
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) February 5, 2017
Iranian news agency IRNA on Friday quoted the country’s foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi as saying a special committee reviewed the case of the U.S. team for the tournament, and “eventually the visit … was opposed.” The competition is set for Feb. 16-17.
Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling, the sport’s governing body in the U.S., had said in a statement last week, “We don’t think politics [should] have any role in this. But, unfortunately, sometimes you can’t control that.”
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