December 1, 2023
The US State Department has refused to give visas to any of the members of Iran’s national wushu team, preventing them all from attending the World Wushu Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, in November.
Wushu is a general term for all Chinese martial arts, known more commonly in the United States as kungfu.
In accord with its long-standing policy, the State Department gave no explanation for its rejection of the visa applications.
It is known that the State Department has previously rejected visa applications from Iranians for evidence of involvement with terrorist organizations or with the holding of the hostages taken at the US embassy in 1979.
At one point, past membership in the Pasdaran was enough to draw a rejection, but the State Department revised that several months ago so that draftees assigned to routine work in the Pasdaran would not be subject to rejection.