The Latest: US official says 872 refugees to be allowed in
U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have been battling the Islamic State group for more than two years, and are currently trying to drive the extremists from Mosul, the country's second-largest city.
A message posted on the embassy website on Tuesday says Israeli passport holders born in Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen who do not have a valid passport from their birth country can travel to the U.S. under a valid visa.
France's prime minister is criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's three-month immigration ban on refugees from Muslim countries as being useless in the fight against terrorism.
Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Tuesday that Trump's decision "only aims at exacerbating tensions, creating potential conflicts" and "in the end, the greatest inefficiency regarding results in the fight against terrorism."
Cazeneuve, who was interior minister in 2015 and 2016 when deadly terror attacks were carried out by Islamic extremists in France, said the government reinforced its counterterrorism law and boosted security forces while preserving "national unity" and the values of the country.
The Netherlands' firebrand anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders has clashed in Parliament with the Dutch foreign minister over U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban for people from seven Muslim nations.
In a debate Tuesday, Wilders — seen by many as a Dutch equivalent of Trump — paid tribute to the new U.S. leader, saying, "Finally America has a president, finally a country in the West has a president, who not only lives up to his promises but who says 'the freedom of my citizens is more important than anything.'"
The Dutch government has updated its travel advisory for the U.S. to warn of the effects of Trump's new policy on Dutch citizens who have dual nationality with one of the seven nations affected.
Iran's foreign minister has reiterated that Iran will no longer issue visas for Americans, describing the decision as a "counter-action" to Trump's executive order banning nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, from entering the United States.
In January, Iran's Oil Ministry published a list of 29 international companies qualified to bid for oil and gas projects following the lifting of sanctions under a landmark nuclear accord that went into effect last year.