Amid US sanctions, Iran announces visa waiver for Chinese tourists

In an attempt to boost tourism, Iran has announced visa waiver for Chinese visitors. Tehran has been hit by various sanctions leading to economic crisis in the country. "The cabinet has agreed to waive visa requirements for Chinese nationals entering the Islamic Republic of Iran,” state news agency IRNA said. Tourism board chief Ali Asghar Mounesan told IRNA that “we aim to host two million Chinese tourists per year using our country’s numerous attractions.” According to IRNA, some 52,000 Chinese tourists visited Iran during the 12 months to March.

He said the sector is “unsanctionable” and could help offset the economic hardships caused by tough sanctions Washington reinstated after withdrawing from a multilateral nuclear deal last year.

China is one of the remaining partners in the nuclear deal and has rejected the Trump administration’s policy of seeking to cut Iranian oil exports to zero.

Earlier, Trump signed an executive order which he said will impose “hard-hitting” sanctions on Iran and deny the Iranian Supreme Leader and other officials access to financial instruments within the US jurisdiction.

“Sadly, the thing they do understand is strength and power, and the USA is by far the most powerful military force in the world, with 1.5 trillion dollars invested over the last two years alone,” he tweeted.

Trump said that the “wonderful Iranian people” are suffering, and for no reason at all.

“Their leadership spends all of its money on terror, and little on anything else. The US has not forgotten Iran’s use of IED’s & EFP’s (bombs), which killed 2,000 Americans, and wounded many more,” he said.

Iran’s UN ambassador said that conditions were not ripe for a dialogue with the United States. Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi told reporters that the United States must stop “its economic war against the Iranian people.” 

“You cannot start a dialogue with somebody who is threatening you, who is intimidating you,” said Ravanchi. “The atmosphere of such a dialogue is not ready yet.” The ambassador spoke a few hours after the United States announced a raft of new sanctions that target Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and eight Iranian commanders.