Iran on Saturday denounced “unconstitutional and inhuman” treatment of travelers of Iranian descent by US border guards and said that the American government holds responsibility for the harassment.
The reaction by Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Saturday came after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in a report revealed that US border officers had been instructed to target and interrogate Iranian-born travellers, Press TV reported.
The CBC revelation follows reports that up to 200 people of Iranian descent travelling from Canada were detained and questioned for hours at multiple Canada-US border crossings during the weekend of January 4, a day after the killing of Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani in an American drone attack in Iraq.
“Such highly discriminatory practices against people, purely because of their race, nationality, or religion, are wholly rejected in terms of international human rights laws and practices, and the US government is responsible for them,” Mousavi said.
On January 16, the Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said that his country was interested in diplomacy but not in negotiating with the US.
Zarif also claimed that General Soleimani was the single biggest threat to ISIS and his killing was now being celebrated by the terror group and US President Donald Trump.
Earlier in the month, President Trump had ordered the death of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps considered a hero in the country, in order to “stop a war,” not start one.
Iran had termed the US action of “international terrorism” as “extremely dangerous and a foolish escalation”.
Earlier, President Hassan Rouhani dismissed a proposal for new “Trump deal” aimed at resolving a nuclear row, saying it was a “strange” offer and criticising Trump for always breaking promises.
Last week, Iran launched over a dozen ballistic missiles targeting at least two bases where US military and coalition forces are stationed in Iraq.
Qasem Soleimani’s killing has been the most dramatic escalation yet in spiralling tensions between Iran and the US.