TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on Monday deplored the US Senate's Visa Waiver Program as a flagrant violation of the nuclear agreement with Tehran.

His remarks came after the US senate passed a bill related to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) which allows citizens of 38 countries � namely European states, Australia, Japan and South Korea � to travel to the United States without having to obtain a visa but excludes from this program all dual nationals from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan, and anyone else who has traveled to those countries in the past five years.

"During the commission meeting today, the lawmakers recognized the US Senate bill on the Visa Waiver Program that enforces restrictions for those people who have travelled to Iran as a violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and condemned it," the commission's rapporteur Nozar Shafiyee announced on Monday.

"They also called on the Iranian foreign minister to take appropriate measures to reciprocate the US violation," Shafiyee told FNA.

In recent days and before the congress bill turned into law, the Iranian officials seriously frowned at the US congress proposal to make changes in the US Visa Waiver Program, and called it against the nuclear agreement.

On Sunday, some 102 Iranian parliamentarians demanded the government to take retaliatory measures against changes in the US Visa Waiver Program.

The Iranian lawmakers described the changes in the US Visa Waiver Program as a blatant violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action � the nuclear agreement between Tehran and the world powers - and called for the government's firm and proper retaliatory measures, Mohammad Dehqan, a senior MP said on Sunday.

The legislators warned that in case of indifference to the US violation of the JCPOA, the Iranian people will witness continued violation of the nuclear agreement against their national interests and aspirations, he added.

Facing the opposition, US Secretary of State John Kerry sent a letter to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on changes in the US Visa Waiver Program to promise Washington's efforts to nullify the Israeli-sponsored senate approval.

"After 10 days of hard and intensive talks between the Iranian foreign minister and nuclear team with the US and European sides in New York, Vienna, Brussels and Tehran on the approval of the US congress's new visa program which was approved as a part of the budget bill as a result of the Zionist lobby's attempts and had almost disempowered the US president of veto right, US Secretary of State Mr. John Kerry in a letter to Iranian Foreign Minister Mr. Mohammad Javad Zarif explicitly assured him that using all instruments under its authority, the US administration will not allow the law to create any obstacle to Iran's economic interests," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said on Sunday.

According to Jaber Ansari, Kerry has underlined in his letter that the US is fully committed to the termination of the sanctions based on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and its undertakings based on the agreements in the JCPOA.

Kerry has also stressed that the US administration will implement changes in the visa waiver program in a way that they won't trouble other countries' trade and economic cooperation with Iran, adding that the administration has numerous instruments which can stop implementation of the law within the domain of the president's authorities, he said.

Noting that the intensive negotiations between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) still continue and have made desirable progress in recent days to settle the last technical and legal points related to the implementation of the JCPOA, Jaber Ansari expressed the hope that Kerry's letter would facilitate implementation of the JCPOA in January according to the specified timetable.

By Fars News Agency