Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khameini

Iran will issue visas for a U.S. wrestling team to attend the Freestyle World Cup competition, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Sunday.

The report is an indication that the Iranians have reversed a decision announced on Friday to ban visas for the team.

The Friday’s ban was an action in retaliation of an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump banning visas for Iranians.

It was reported that Bahram Ghasemi, spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, issued a telegram message on Sunday noting that visas would be issued for the Americans.

He had said this was partly because of the decision by a U.S. federal judge to “halt the execution of discriminatory restrictions against the entrance of Iranian citizens to America’’.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge James Robart put on hold the travel ban for refugees and citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries called for in Trump’s executive order.

Ghasemi did not say whether Americans currently holding Iranian visas would be allowed entry to the Islamic Republic or if any new visas would be issued to U.S. citizens.

The Freestyle World Cup is one of wrestling’s most prestigious events and is scheduled for Feb. 16 to Feb. 17 in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that USA Wrestling had previously said it would send a team to the competition.

Tensions have ratcheted up between Tehran and Washington since Trump took office last month.

On Friday, the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Iran because of a ballistic missile test carried out by the Islamic Republic last weekend.

(Reuters/NAN)