US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on June 4 banning entry to the US for nationals from 12 countries, including Iran, with the restrictions taking effect on June 9 at 12:01 am Eastern Daylight Time.
The surprise announcement has prompted strong reactions from Iranians inside the country, with the general feeling of confusion following weeks of talks between the two countries over the cessation of sanctions in Iran in exchange for an end to the country's enrichment of nuclear material. However, recent comments by officials, including the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, suggest the two sides may fail to reach an agreement.
White House officials said the action was needed to protect the United States from terrorist attacks and other national security threats, which Trump announced in an Oval Office address directly to the nation.
"It's very ridiculous and interesting that citizens of Egypt, where the attacker was from, haven't even been restricted," said Reza Rasooli, referring to the Boulder, Colorado, attack. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian national, attacked a pro-Israel solidarity event in Boulder on June 1 using Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower, injuring 15 people.
The banned countries include Afghanistan, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, with additional heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
"Well, where shall we go now?" asked Hossein Massoudi on social media, with the US a top choice for Iranian graduates and students looking for work and a way out of the poor state of the Iranian economy.
Masoud Hafezi was more direct in his criticism: "Shameless Trump. These American scoundrels won't rest until they turn Iran into Libya," referring to the “Libya option” touted by Israel, which intends to force Iran to give up its nuclear development programme.
"His target was only Iran and Iranians," said Babak Hayati, suggesting the other countries had limited emigration. "He put the rest just so the petition wouldn't be empty and to hide the depth of his enmity and hatred."
Mehrdad Ahari took a more light-hearted view: "Damn his father, we'll go to our own north and have fun with soft drinks."
One user online, posting under a pseudonym, suggested: "If it's not too much trouble, kick out those Iranian rich kids too. This way it's much better for both us and you."
"With this amount of hatred, do you want them to roll out the red carpet for you too?" asked Negar.
"Really, look what day we've come to, that we've been categorised with hopeless third-world countries," said Mohsen Homayoon.
Mohammad reflected: "Unfortunately, unfortunately, and again unfortunately, this list shows Iran's real place in the world among countries. Iran has become on the same level as these countries. This was predictable even before this list with the value of our national currency."
A user identified as "humanity" raised concerns about Afghan nationals: "When Afghans roam freely in Iran and do everything and it all ends up under Iran's name, we should be put in the same category as Afghanistan. The question here is why don't officials kick Afghans out of Iran? Does it bring them profit or are there behind-the-scenes news that we don't know about?"
Trump said in his order that he "must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people".
The proclamation follows similar restrictions implemented during Trump's first presidency, though the current list includes additional countries not covered in earlier versions following Trump’s “Muslim ban” comments.
The most reliable recent data indicates that over 20,000 Iranians moved to the United States in each of the fiscal years 2023 and 2024, based on total visa processing figures for Iranian nationals, the NIAC Council earlier reported.
