The State Department reaffirmed Monday that while Congress just moved to tighten travel rules on people who have visited Iran, the Obama administration will make sure to implement those rules in a way that doesn’t interfere with U.S. commitments under the Iran nuclear agreement.
The omnibus spending bill that passed last week and was signed by President Obama includes language that prevents anyone from using the U.S. visa waiver program if they have traveled to Iran any time since early 2011. The visa waiver program lets people from 38 countries enter the U.S. without a visa, and is aimed at speeding up travel rules for people from partner countries.
The language in the spending bill prompted Iran to warn that its implementation could make the U.S. run afoul of its commitments under the deal not to interfere with Iran’s business dealings with other countries.
That concern led Secretary of State John Kerry to indicate to Iran that the government would likely waive parts of the law if they were found to conflict with the nuclear agreement. And on Monday, State Department spokesman John Kirby offered similar indications.
“We have a number of potential tools to ensure that the new legislation doesn’t unduly interfere with the implementation of the JCPOA, or legitimate business travel,” Kirby said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“It includes waiver authority for DHS, but it would be … a little too early to say if and when that authority might be used,” he added. Kirby also said the new language doesn’t block business visas from being granted, and said there are still several ways in which “legitimate business travel to Iran can still occur.”
In his Saturday letter to Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, Kerry made a similar assurance.
“I am also confident that the recent changes in visa requirements passed in Congress, which the administration has the authority to waive, will not in any way prevent us from meeting our JCPOA commitments, and that we will implement them so as not to interfere with legitimate business interests of Iran,” he wrote.
