In response to an entry ban that President Donald Trump ordered on citizens of Iraq and six other Muslim-majority nations.
A majority of lawmakers voted on Monday to recommend a reciprocal ban, Mahmoud Al-Hassan, a member of parliament’s legal committee, said by phone from Baghdad.
The non-binding measure also calls on Iraq’s government to lodge protests with the Trump administration, the U.S. Congress and international bodies including the United Nations.
Iraqi politicians Kamil al-Ghrairi and Mohammed Saadoun said the decision in parliament today is binding for the government.
Both say the decision was passed by a majority votes in favor but couldn’t offer specific numbers.
No further details were available on the wording of the parliament decision.
The Iraqi measure, if adopted, could shut the Middle Eastern country’s doors to U.S. oil workers, diplomats and military advisers who are helping Iraq fight Islamic State militants. “The final decision is up to the government,” Al-Hassan said.
World leaders including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have denounced the U.S. ban, which also targets citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – including those with dual citizenship.
Iraq is so far the only one of the seven targeted countries to propose a reciprocal measure.
An Iraqi ban could affect U.S. employees of Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp., which pumps nearly half a million barrels a day of crude oil in Iraq, and other international energy companies that employ Americans.
It could also bar entry to other U.S. workers who prop up Iraq’s vital oil industry, from service providers to security contractors, many of whom work on rotation and leave Iraq every few weeks.
“A lot will come down to what the actual measures they decide to put in place will be,” Glen Ransom, an analyst at U.K.-based risk consultant Control Risks, which operates in Iraq, said by phone from Dubai.
“It would impact those companies that are planning to rotate employees during the period of a ban.”
Iran’s senior vice president Ishaq Jahangiri branded the executive order as ‘illegal, inhumane and against human rights’.
He said: ‘We will definitely take stance against this illegal, inhumane and anti-human-rights activity in international bodies.
‘And once again (we) will review and explore American human rights in international bodies in order to let the world to know what a system they are facing.’
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