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World

Iranians report being stopped, facing delays at US border

Jocelyne Zablit - Agence France-Presse
Iranians report being stopped, facing delays at US border
Iranians burn an Israeli and a US flag during an anti-US protest over the killings during a US air stike of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in the capital Tehran on January 4, 2020.
AFP / Atta Kenare

LOS ANGELES, United States — Dozens of Iranians and Iranian-Americans have reported being harassed or questioned for hours at the US border following heightened tensions over the US killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group, said it had provided assistance to more than 60 travelers who were detained at length over the weekend and questioned about their political views at Washington state's border with Canada.

Many of them were reportedly denied entry to the US due to a lack of capacity for Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to detain them.

One 24-year-old only identified as Crystal by CAIR said she was detained and interrogated for more than 10 hours with her family at the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Blaine, Washington, before being released early Sunday.

She said when the family asked why they were being detained, CBP agents said, "It is just the wrong time for you guys."

"These reports are extremely troubling and potentially constitute illegal detentions of United States citizens," said Masih Fouladi, executive director of CAIR's Washington chapter. "We are working to verify reports of a broad nationwide directive to detain Iranian-Americans at ports of entry so that we can provide community members with accurate travel guidance." 

However, CBP officials have disputed the reports, saying that long delays at the border were due to increased traffic because of the holiday season and a shortage of staff to process travelers.

They also insist that the agency does not discriminate based on religion, race or ethnicity.

'Constitutional and moral problems'

"Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the US because of their country of origin are false," CBP spokesman Michael Friel told AFP.

He added that reports that the Department of Homeland Security and CBP had issued a directive to bar Iranian-Americans from entering the country were also false.

A security official who did not wish to be identified said that the increased delays Iranian-Americans faced at the border were related to CBP "operating with an enhanced posture at its ports of entry to safeguard our national security." 

The delays at the border have been condemned by public officials, with many accusing the Trump administration of overreach.

"Washingtonians who happen to be Iranian-American were detained at the Canadian-US border for extended periods of time for no other reason than their ethnicity or country of origin," Washington Governor Jay Inslee said in a statement. 

"This is wrong and rife with constitutional and moral problems," he added. "No one should be treated differently due to where they come from, how they look or what language they speak."

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a top Democratic candidate in the US presidential race, said she found the reports "deeply disturbing."

"Iranian Americans have the same rights as all other US citizens and should be treated with dignity and respect at our border -- not bigoted, xenophobic scrutiny," she said in a tweet.

The increased scrutiny at the border comes after Iran vowed to avenge Soleimani's killing in a drone strike ordered by US President Donald Trump.

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IRAN

As It Happens
LATEST UPDATE: October 17, 2022 - 9:36am

Saudi Arabia reveals extensive damage to key oil facilities following weekend aerial strikes that were blamed on Iran, but vows to quickly restore full production even as regional tensions soar.

Yemen's Tehran-linked Huthi rebels, who announced a sudden halt to attacks on Saudi Arabia, claims the strikes on state giant Aramco's facilities in Khurais and the world's largest oil processing facility at Abqaiq.

But Washington has pointed the finger at Tehran, condemning an "act of war" which knocked out half of Saudi Arabia's oil production and on Friday prompted US President Donald Trump to sketch out the latest in a series of economic sanctions against Iran. — AFP

October 17, 2022 - 9:36am

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday accused his US counterpart of "inciting chaos" after President Joe Biden expressed support for protests in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death in custody.

"The remarks of the American president, who is inciting chaos, terror and the destruction of another country, serve as a reminder of the eternal words of the founder of the Islamic republic, who called America the Great Satan," Raisi says, referring to the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei.

"The enemy's plot must be countered by effective measures to resolve people's problems," Raisi adds, according to a presidency statement.

Iran has been rocked by protests since 22-year-old Amini's death on September 16, three days after she was arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women. — AFP

October 5, 2022 - 1:22pm

Detained US citizen Baquer Namazi has been allowed to leave Iran and his son has been granted furlough from prison, a State Department spokesperson tells AFP, confirming their release.

"Wrongfully detained US citizen Baquer Namazi has been permitted to depart Iran, and his son Siamak, also wrongfully detained, has been granted furlough from prison," the spokesperson says. — AFP

October 4, 2022 - 7:59am

President Joe Biden says the United States will place "further costs" on Iran in response to the violent crackdown against "peaceful protestors" in the country.

"This week, the United States will be imposing further costs on perpetrators of violence against peaceful protestors. We will continue holding Iranian officials accountable and supporting the rights of Iranians to protest freely," Biden says in a statement.

Biden says he is "gravely concerned about reports of the intensifying violent crackdown on peaceful protestors in Iran, including students and women, who are demanding their equal rights and basic human dignity."

"The United States stands with Iranian women and all the citizens of Iran who are inspiring the world with their bravery." — AFP

October 3, 2022 - 9:11am

The United States rejects Iranian reports that Tehran's release of two detained Americans will lead to the unfreezing of Iranian funds abroad.

Baquer Namazi, 85, was permitted to leave Iran for medical treatment abroad, and his son Siamak, 50, was released from detention in Tehran, the United Nations said on Saturday.

Now Iran is awaiting the release of about $7 billion in funds frozen abroad, Iranian state media says.

"With the finalisation of negotiations between Iran and the United States to release the prisoners of both countries, $7 billion of Iran's blocked resources will be released," the state news agency IRNA says.

But the US State Department dismissed any such link as "categorically false."

"Baquer Namazi was unjustly detained in Iran and then not permitted to leave the country after serving his sentence, despite his repeated requirement for urgent medical attention," a department spokesperson says. — AFP

April 10, 2022 - 5:33pm

Iran's foreign minister said Sunday that Washington is "imposing new conditions" in the negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement.

"On the issue of lifting sanctions, they (the Americans) are interested in proposing and imposing new conditions outside the negotiations," state news agency IRNA quoted Hossein Amir-Abdollahian as saying.

"In the last two or three weeks, the American side has made excessive demands that contradict some paragraphs of the text," he added.

Iran has been engaged for a year in negotiations with France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China directly, and the United States indirectly in the Austrian capital to revive the deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). -- AFP

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