Iran has banned USA wrestlers from participating in the Freestyle World Cup competition later this month in what looks like the first response to President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting visas for Iranians.
The Freestyle World Cup is scheduled for Feb. 16-17 in Kermanshah, in the western part of the country. A contingent from USA Wrestling was set to compete there.
Iran’s official state-run news agency IRNA reported on Friday that the Iranian foreign ministry said that it had to ban the wrestlers because of Trump’s executive order.
Earlier this week, Iran said it would take retaliatory action.
The wrestling event has been ensnared in the most recent back-and-forth between the two countries.
A senior Iranian official that his country would continue its missile program, despite threats from the Trump administration that it was preparing to levy new sanctions.
The Iran news agency quoted Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi, who said a committee considered the U.S. wrestling team’s case and, “Eventually, the visit by the U.S. freestyle wrestling team was opposed.
The Trump administration has put Iran “on notice” after that country’s recent missile test and early Friday morning, the president had this tweet:
Iran is playing with fire – they don’t appreciate how “kind” President Obama was to them. Not me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017
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