Iran’s karate team has been denied entry to the United States to compete in the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, according to Fox News.
According to the report, the reasons for the ban are due to the Iranian karate team’s direct ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Iranian anti-IRGC activists and opponents of the regime in Tehran called for an immediate ban on the karate team.
For its part, the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) confirmed Tuesday that the US government has denied visas to the karate team.
A State Department spokesman said his response was unchanged from when Fox News first asked him on Sunday about the karate team and whether the United States plans to issue visas to Iranian athletes. “Visa records are confidential under US law, so we cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases,” the spokesperson said.
The activists warned that the karate team included members and supporters of terrorist organizations linked to the Iranian regime, involved in the killing of more than 600 US soldiers in the Middle East.
Among those who expressed concern was a Gold Star family member who lost his brother in an attack backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “Allowing Iranian sports teams to compete in the United States legitimizes the terrorist regime, especially since their anthem is played on American soil,” said Beverly Wolfer, sister of Major Stuart Adam Wolfer, who was killed in Iraq on April 6, 2008 by an Iranian-backed terrorist cell.
