IFP- According to a Farsi report by ISNA, after the US President banned the visa issuance for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, leaving many Iranians stranded in airports last week, the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reacted to Trump�s decision.

�While showing our respect for American people, and distinguishing between them and the US administration�s hostile policies, appropriate legal, consular and political measures are to be taken to uphold Iranian citizens� rights until the humiliating bans against them are lifted,� Zarif said.

�We will take counteractions on visa issuance for American citizens. The Foreign Ministry has set up a mechanism to follow up this issue,� announced Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi.

However, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, the secretary of Iran�s High Council for Human Rights, didn�t agree that Iran must prohibit Americans from entering Iran, calling such a countermeasure �a symmetrical, though not attractive solution.�

Larijani referred to the large number of mostly American academics who wish to visit Iran, and noted, �We have to take an official, accurate action; something direct and strong, and asymmetrical, at the same time.�

A recent report by Forward Keys website, prepared through daily observation and analysis of 16 million airport bookings all over the world, shows a 9.3% increase in the number of Americans who travelled to Iran last year, making up 10.7% of the Islamic Republic�s international tourism market.

�Trump ordered to prohibit seven countries� citizens from entering the US because he feels insecure about his country�s safety. We are 100% sure that Iran is safe, however,� Said Ebrahim Pourfaraj, head of Iran Tourist Guides Association, who cited these statistics to show that Iranian tourism industry will be definitely affected if the number is cut.

�Many American tourism agencies called me to express their worry about the situation of American travellers to Iran,� he added. �Many of them have plane tickets, their visa references are ready, and now, these tourists don�t know whether they have to cancel their trips to Iran.�

�Half of the Golden Eagle Luxury Trains passengers, which come from Hungary to Iran several times a year, are Americans; so are the professors of important universities such as Harvard, and museum authorities who wished to visit Iran for years.�

He went on to say that Americans are among the visitors who provide Iran with a huge income, using the best services and buying a lot of items.

�We respect the international protocols and our officials� decisions. We hope that the Iranian authorities make the best decision possible towards this unwise policy of the US.�