October 05, 2018
The Islamic Republic has stopped stamping the passports of most arriving tourists because of the US rules requiring anyone who has visited Iran to go through a much harsher review before they can get an American visa.
This is copying a decades-old practice by Israel. Israel does not stamp visitors’ passports because Arab countries bar entry to people with whose passports have Israeli stamps in them. Instead, Israel just slips a paper showing arrival and departure information into a passport. After leaving, the owner can discard the paper if he or she prefers.
In March 2017, President Trump issued an order making it harder for people who have visited Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen to enter the United States. It wasn’t explained why it has taken Iran a year and a half to respond.
Visitors from two groups of countries, however, will still have their passports stamped.
The first group is Iran’s land neighbors—Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The second group is countries Iran views as hostile—US, Britain, Canada, Jordan, Columbia, Bangladesh and Somalia.
