Iran News: After Trump's Travel Ban, Muslim Nation Bans US Wrestlers From World Cup

Iran announced Friday that U.S. wrestlers were banned from participating in the 2017 Freestyle World Cup competition this month in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order denying visas for Iranians, according to an official Islamic Republic News Agency report.

The state-run news agency IRNA quoted a representative of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Bahram Ghasemi, who said a special committee was established to deliberate whether to allow the American wrestlers to compete in the tournament, but “eventually the visit by the U.S. freestyle wrestling team was opposed.”

Iran officials said Saturday they would block American citizens from entering their country in “retaliation” to Trump’s travel ban preventing citizens of seven Muslim nations from coming to the U.S., which included Iran. Ghasemi said Trump's executive order left his country no other option but to ban the American wrestlers.

The competition, which is considered among the most prestigious international wrestling tournaments, is scheduled for Feb. 16 and Feb. 17 in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah.

Wrestling has always been one of the most popular sports in the country of 77.45 million people. U.S. wrestlers started competing in Iranian tournaments since the 1998 Takhti Cup in the capital city of Tehran after a 20-year hiatus and have participated in 15 different wrestling competitions in Iran since then. Conversely, the Iranian wrestling team has made 16 visits to the U.S. since the 1990’s.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran continued to flare Thursday after Trump tweeted similar comments from his national security advisor, Michael Flynn, that Iran was formally “on notice” for conducting a ballistic missile test Sunday. Iran's missile launch appears to directly violate U.N. Resolution 2231 which prevents the country from engaging in “any activity related to ballistic missiles….including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”

Flynn described Iran's missile launch as “destabilizing behavior across the Middle East." On Wednesday, he criticized the administration of President Barack Obama for failing to adequately respond to a similar test Iran performed in December.