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Portugal suspends visas for Iranians, cites security reasons

Portugal suspends visas for Iranians cites security reasons
Portugal suspends visas for Iranians, cites security reasons

2019-07-17 00:00:00 - Source: Baghdad Post

Portugal

has suspended the issuance of entry visas for Iranian nationals for unspecified

security reasons, Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva told a parliamentary

committee on Tuesday.

Answering

a question from a committee member on whether such a move had been taken,

Santos Silva said during the televised meeting: "Yes, we suspended those

for security reasons... I will provide explanations later, but not publicly."

"Portugal

does not play around with entry into its territory," he added, without

disclosing when the decision was taken.

The

chairman declared the meeting closed after about two hours without further

off-camera testimony.

Joao

Goncalves Pereira, lawmaker from the conservative CDS-PP party, said: "We

received information that visas for Iranians had been suspended for two or

three weeks, and we just wanted to confirm that."

He

would not say what the source of that original information was or whether any

Iranian nationals had complained about the situation.

Questioned

by reporters after the committee, Santos Silva said the suspension had

"nothing to do with the quality of Portugal's bilateral relations with

Tehran."

"It

was a temporary suspension and we hope to resume very shortly," he added,

quoted by Portuguese news agency Lusa.





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