Iranians react to new Trump travel ban as tensions are high between nations
People walk past a state-sponsored anti-U.S. mural painted on the wall of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
TEHRAN, Iran — Iranians again face a U.S. travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump, with the decision drawing anger, frustration and some shrugs given the decades of tensions between the countries.
Trump imposed a similar ban during his first term before withdrawing America unilaterally from Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, under which Iran drastically limited its program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
When he returned to the White House and began seeking a new deal with Iran, it saw the country's rial currency improve and stocks rise. But worries have grown as its government appears poised to reject an initial American proposal. The travel ban has further darkened that mood and led Iranians to fear Trump will lump the nation's 80 million people with its theocratic government even after he repeatedly praised them while seeking a deal.
'Now I understand that Trump is against all Iranians, and his attitude is not limited to the government,' said Asghar Nejati, a 31-year-old man working in a Tehran pharmacy.
Even in the years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and subsequent U.S. Embassy hostage crisis, Iranian students traveled to the U.S. to attend universities. Between 2018 and 2024, an average of around 10,000 Iranian students went to the U.S. annually.
Estimates suggest some 1 million Iranian-origin people live in the U.S. today.
Mehrnoush Alipour, a 37-year-old graphic designer, said the nations could have better relations if they could spoke to each other in softer tones.
'This is another foolish decision. Trump cannot reach his goals by imposing pressures on ordinary Iranians,' she said. 'The two nations can have better relations through openings, not restrictions.'
Bank teller Mahdieh Naderi said Trump was lashing out over his frustrated efforts to reach ceasefires in the Israel-Hamas war and the Russia-Ukraine war.
'Trump just expressed his anger about his failed plans,' Naderi said. 'He is complaining about the Chinese and others who are living in the U.S., too
Some said interest in the U.S. was already waning before the latest ban.
'Over the past years, two of my grandchildren went to Canada to continue their education there,' said Mohammad Ali Niaraki, 75. 'Iranians are not limited in immigration and they are not as interested to go to the U.S. as they were decades ago. Iranians prefer Canada, as well as neighboring countries with flourishing economies like the (United Arab) Emirates.'
Others pointed out that high-ranking government officials have children living or working in the U.S., despite the tensions, and suggested that it would be fair to remove those as well.
Tehran resident Mehri Soltani offered rare support for Trump's decision.
'Those who have family members in the U.S, it's their right to go, but a bunch of bad people and terrorists and murderers want to go there as well,' he said. 'So his policy is correct. He's doing the right thing.'
___
Nasser Karimi And Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Canada Standard
2 hours ago
- Canada Standard
Daily World Briefing, June 7
Libyan PM orders investigation into clashes in coastal city Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamed Dbeibah on Friday ordered an investigation into clashes that broke out Thursday in the northwestern coastal city of Sabratha. The Information Office of the Prime Minister said in a statement that Dbeibah had instructed the commander of the Western Military Zone "to start an immediate and thorough investigation" into the clashes. "The instructions are part of orders made yesterday to assign the Western Military Zone commander to urgently interfere on ground and stop the fighting," the statement added. According to local media, clashes broke out on Thursday between rival armed groups in Sabratha, some 70 km west of the capital Tripoli, and lasted until Friday morning. No casualties have been reported so far. NATO defense ministers struggle to bridge divides over military spending goals NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday "broadly" agreed to pursue a significant increase in member states' military spending to 5 percent of GDP. However, sharp disagreements over the timeline and spending categories revealed deep divisions ahead of the alliance's upcoming summit in The Hague, scheduled for June 24-25. "There's broad support. We are really close," Mark Rutte, NATO's secretary general, told reporters after the meeting. He stressed that he has "total confidence that we will get there" by the next NATO summit in three weeks. Rutte proposed a compromise plan: setting a target of 3.5 percent of GDP for core military spending, and an additional 1.5 percent for broader security-related areas such as infrastructure, by 2032. Wildfire smoke causes poor air quality in major Canadian cities Smoke from wildfires burning in northern Ontario and the Prairies of Canada caused poor air quality and reduced visibility in major cities including Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal on Friday. Environment Canada issued special air quality statements for these areas on Friday, warning that people most likely to suffer health effects from air pollution should avoid strenuous activities outdoors and seek medical attention if experiencing symptoms. Environment Canada's David Phillips said on CTV News that as wildfires ramp up across the country, air quality is deteriorating. "What we've seen this week, of course, in Ontario is a lot of that smoke from fires has come south," Phillips said. Trump to sell his Tesla car as feud with Musk carries risks for both: report U.S. President Donald Trump planned to sell the red Tesla car he said he bought in March, reported The New York Times on Friday, noting that Trump originally purchased the car to demonstrate his support for Elon Musk amid a backlash over his role in the administration. "Administration officials said Mr. Trump showed little interest in engaging with Mr. Musk, even after the billionaire signaled he would be open to de-escalating the fight" they currently have, added the report. Late Thursday, Musk backed off a threat to "immediately" decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, which transports NASA astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station. A short time later, when Bill Ackman, the hedge-fund billionaire, posted on social media that the two men "should make peace for the benefit of our great country," Musk responded, "You're not wrong." "For Musk, a prolonged feud with Trump could be hugely expensive," noted the report. His companies, including SpaceX, have benefited from billions of dollars in government contracts and were positioned to receive billions more. Trump threatened on Thursday to end those contracts. United Airlines resumes flights to Israel over month after Houthi airport attack U.S. carrier United Airlines has resumed flights to Israel after a suspension of more than a month. Flight UA84 departed from Newark Liberty International Airport in New York on Thursday and landed at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Friday. United Airlines suspended its operations in Israel on May 4 after a missile fired from Yemen by the Houthi group exploded near Ben Gurion Airport. The incident prompted several international airlines to suspend flights to the country, with only a few having since resumed service. Among those resuming operations is Latvia's national airline, airBaltic, which completed a flight from Riga International Airport to Tel Aviv on Friday.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy
BEIRUT (AP) — Fireworks lit up the night sky over Beirut's famous St. Georges Hotel as hit songs from the 1960s and 70s filled the air in a courtyard overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The retro-themed event was hosted last month by Lebanon's Tourism Ministry to promote the upcoming summer season and perhaps recapture some of the good vibes from an era viewed as a golden one for the country. In the years before a civil war began in 1975, Lebanon was the go-to destination for wealthy tourists from neighboring Gulf countries seeking beaches in summer, snow-capped mountains in winter and urban nightlife year-round. In the decade after the war, tourists from Gulf countries – and crucially, Saudi Arabia – came back, and so did Lebanon's economy. But by the early 2000s, as the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah gained power, Lebanon's relations with Gulf countries began to sour. Tourism gradually dried up, starving its economy of billions of dollars in annual spending. Now, after last year's bruising war with Israel, Hezbollah is much weaker and Lebanon's new political leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the economy once again with help from wealthy neighbors. They aim to disarm Hezbollah and rekindle ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, which in recent years have prohibited their citizens from visiting Lebanon or importing its products. 'Tourism is a big catalyst, and so it's very important that the bans get lifted,' said Laura Khazen Lahoud, the country's tourism minister. On the highway leading to the Beirut airport, once-ubiquitous banners touting Hezbollah's leadership have been replaced with commercial billboards and posters that read 'a new era for Lebanon.' In the center of Beirut, and especially in neighborhoods that hope to attract tourists, political posters are coming down, and police and army patrols are on the rise. There are signs of thawing relations with some Gulf neighbors. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have lifted yearslong travel bans. All eyes are now on Saudi Arabia, a regional political and economic powerhouse, to see if it will follow suit, according to Lahoud and other Lebanese officials. A key sticking point is security, these officials say. Although a ceasefire with Israel has been in place since November, near-daily airstrikes have continued in southern and eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah over the years had built its political base and powerful military arsenal. Tourism as a diplomatic and economic bridge As vital as tourism is — it accounted for almost 20% of Lebanon's economy before it tanked in 2019 — the country's leaders say it is just one piece of a larger puzzle they are trying to put back together. Lebanon's agricultural and industrial sectors are in shambles, suffering a major blow in 2021, when Saudi Arabia banned their exports after accusing Hezbollah of smuggling drugs into Riyadh. Years of economic dysfunction have left the country's once-thriving middle class in a state of desperation. The World Bank says poverty nearly tripled in Lebanon over the past decade, affecting close to half its population of nearly 6 million. To make matters worse, inflation is soaring, with the Lebanese pound losing 90% of its value, and many families lost their savings when banks collapsed. Tourism is seen by Lebanon's leaders as the best way to kickstart the reconciliation needed with Gulf countries — and only then can they move on to exports and other economic growth opportunities. 'It's the thing that makes most sense, because that's all Lebanon can sell now,' said Sami Zoughaib, research manager at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think tank. With summer still weeks away, flights to Lebanon are already packed with expats and locals from countries that overturned their travel bans, and hotels say bookings have been brisk. At the event hosted last month by the tourism ministry, the owner of the St. Georges Hotel, Fady El-Khoury, beamed. The hotel, owned by his father in its heyday, has acutely felt Lebanon's ups and downs over the decades, closing and reopening multiple times because of wars. 'I have a feeling that the country is coming back after 50 years,' he said. On a recent weekend, as people crammed the beaches of the northern city of Batroun, and jet skis whizzed along the Mediterranean, local business people sounded optimistic that the country was on the right path. 'We are happy, and everyone here is happy,' said Jad Nasr, co-owner of a private beach club. 'After years of being boycotted by the Arabs and our brothers in the Gulf, we expect this year for us to always be full.' Still, tourism is not a panacea for Lebanon's economy, which for decades has suffered from rampant corruption and waste. Lebanon has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund for years over a recovery plan that would include billions in loans and require the country to combat corruption, restructure its banks, and bring improvements to a range of public services, including electricity and water. Without those and other reforms, Lebanon's wealthy neighbors will lack confidence to invest there, experts said. A tourism boom alone would serve as a 'morphine shot that would only temporarily ease the pain' rather than stop the deepening poverty in Lebanon, Zoughaib said. The tourism minister, Lahoud, agreed, saying a long-term process has only just begun. 'But we're talking about subjects we never talked about before,' she said. 'And I think the whole country has realized that war doesn't serve anyone, and that we really need our economy to be back and flourish again.'
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Democratic states double down on laws resisting Trump's immigration crackdown
As President Donald Trump's administration targets states and local governments for not cooperating with federal immigration authorities, lawmakers in some Democratic-led states are intensifying their resistance by strengthening state laws restricting such cooperation. In California alone, more than a dozen pro-immigrant bills passed either the Assembly or Senate this week, including one prohibiting schools from allowing federal immigration officials into nonpublic areas without a judicial warrant. Other state measures have sought to protect immigrants in housing, employment and police encounters, even as Trump's administration has ramped up arrests as part of his plan for mass deportations. In Connecticut, legislation pending before Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont would expand a law that already limits when law enforcement officers can cooperate with federal requests to detain immigrants. Among other things, it would let 'any aggrieved person' sue municipalities for alleged violations of the state's Trust Act. Two days after lawmakers gave final approval to the measure, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security included Connecticut on a list of hundreds of 'sanctuary jurisdictions' obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws. The list later was removed from the department's website after criticism that it errantly included some local governments that support Trump's immigration policies. States split on whether to aid or resist Trump Since taking office in January, Trump has enlisted hundreds of state and local law enforcement agencies to help identify immigrants in the U.S. illegally and detain them for potential deportation. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement now lists 640 such cooperative agreements, a nearly fivefold increase under Trump. Trump also has lifted longtime rules restricting immigration enforcement near schools, churches and hospitals, and ordered federal prosecutors to investigate state or local officials believed to be interfering with his crackdown on illegal immigration. The Department of Justice sued Colorado, Illinois and New York, as well as several cities in those states and New Jersey, alleging their policies violate the U.S. Constitution or federal immigration laws. Just three weeks after Colorado was sued, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed a wide-ranging law expanding the state's protections for immigrants. Among other things, it bars jails from delaying the release of inmates for immigration enforcement and allows penalties of up to $50,000 for public schools, colleges, libraries, child care centers and health care facilities that collect information about people's immigration status, with some exceptions. Polis rejected the administration's description of Colorado as a 'sanctuary state,' asserting that law officers remain 'deeply committed' to working with federal authorities on criminal investigations. 'But to be clear, state and local law enforcement cannot be commandeered to enforce federal civil immigration laws,' Polis said in a bill-signing statement. Illinois also has continued to press pro-immigrant legislation. A bill recently given final approval says no child can be denied a free public education because of immigration status — something already guaranteed nationwide under a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision. Supporters say the state legislation provides a backstop in case court precedent is overturned. The bill also requires schools to develop policies on handling requests from federal immigration officials and allows lawsuits for alleged violations of the measure. Legislation supporting immigrants takes a variety of forms Democratic-led states are pursuing a wide range of means to protect immigrants. A new Oregon law bars landlords from inquiring about the immigration status of tenants or applicants. New laws in Washington declare it unprofessional conduct for bail bond agents to enforce civil immigration warrants, prohibit employers from using immigration status to threaten workers and let employees use paid sick leave to attend immigration proceedings for themselves or family members. Vermont last month repealed a state law that let law enforcement agencies enter into immigration enforcement agreements with federal authorities during state or national emergencies. They now need special permission from the governor to do so. As passed by the House, Maryland legislation also would have barred local governments from reaching immigration enforcement agreements with the federal government. That provision was removed in the Senate following pushback from some of the seven Maryland counties that currently have agreements. The final version, which took effect as law at the start of June, forbids public schools and libraries from granting federal immigration authorities access to nonpublic areas without a judicial warrant or 'exigent circumstances.' Maryland Del. Nicole Williams said residents' concerns about Trump's immigration policies prompted her to sponsor the legislation. 'We believe that diversity is our strength, and our role as elected officials is to make sure that all of the residents within our community — regardless of their background — feel safe and comfortable,' Williams said. Many new measures reinforce existing policies Though legislation advancing in Democratic states may shield against Trump's policies, 'I would say it's more so to send a message to immigrant communities to let them know that they are welcome,' said Juan Avilez, a policy associate at the American Immigration Council, a nonprofit advocacy group. In California, a law that took effect in 2018 already requires public schools to adopt policies 'limiting assistance with immigration enforcement to the fullest extent possible.' Some schools have readily applied the law. When DHS officers attempted a welfare check on migrant children at two Los Angeles elementary schools in April, they were denied access by both principals. Legislation passed by the state Senate would reinforce such policies by specifically requiring a judicial warrant for public schools to let immigration authorities into nonpublic areas, allow students to be questioned or disclose information about students and their families. 'Having ICE in our schools means that you'll have parents who will not want to send their kids to school at all,' Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener said in support of the bill. But some Republicans said the measure was 'injecting partisan immigration policies' into schools. 'We have yet to see a case in California where we have scary people in masks entering schools and ripping children away,' said state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil. 'Let's stop these fear tactics that do us an injustice.' ___ Associated Press writers Susan Haigh, Trân Nguyễn, Jesse Bedayn, John O'Connor and Brian Witte contributed to this report.
