Rostam Qasemi: Iran Cannot Host European Tourists for Religious Reasons

Rostam Qasemi, a candidate from the principlist coalition "People's Front of Islamic Revolution Forces" (Jemna) in the presidential elections, stated that Iran cannot accept "European tourists" due to "religious and Islamic reasons" and should replace them with "Islamic tourism." According to the news website "Entekhab," the former oil minister in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government said on Saturday, April 5, in Golestan that the "conditions and accommodation issues of European tourists are incompatible with religious and Islamic issues," adding, "There are 80 million halal tourists in the world annually, and we must move towards Islamic tourism." He noted that until a few years ago, even 100,000 Iraqis did not visit Iran, but in 2016, 2.7 million citizens from that country entered Iran. Qasemi predicted that if the visa issue is resolved, conditions would allow more than 8 million Iraqis to enter the country annually. His statements come at a time when Hassan Rouhani's government has been planning extensively to expand tourism and replace part of the oil revenues with income from tourism after achieving a nuclear agreement over the past four years. According to the sixth development plan, Iran aims to increase the number of foreign tourists fivefold by the end of this plan. According to statistics from the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, currently, five million tourists visit Iran annually, and based on this plan, the number of tourists should reach 25 million by 2025. In this context, Mohammad Khazaei, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, stated last October that foreign and domestic investors who invest in the tourism sector will benefit from tax exemptions. However, there are also resistances and obstacles to the development of foreign tourism. The detention of some tourists and foreign nationals in Iran on espionage charges can be considered one of these obstacles. In the latest case, on March 15, the commander of the maritime police in Hormozgan province announced the arrest of two "spy tourists" in the waters of this province. In another part of his remarks, Rostam Qasemi questioned the economic and oil policies of Hassan Rouhani's government, stating, "The period of sanctions was the peak of oil industry development in the past 100 years." He mentioned that "documents and evidence of this oil industry development were shown by state television." Qasemi added that during the sanctions, the conditions of refineries improved, stating, "I do not agree with sanctions, but the claim that sanctions only affected oil and money is a lie; we faced sanctions on medicine and other goods as well." The Jemna candidate in the Iranian presidential elections remarked, "Some officials claimed that no jobs were created from 2005 to 2013. But I asked some, did 4 million Mehr housing units get built by fairies? Was the increase of 30 million tons of cement to 70 million tons in the country the work of fairies?" The presidential election is scheduled for May 18. In this context, principlists close to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic have recently criticized the performance and policies of Rouhani's government, especially in the economic field.