“Iranian citizenship of dual nationals will be revoked”
The spokesman for the National Security Commission of the Parliament called accepting dual citizenship a "criminal" act. Hossein Naqvi Hosseini said that the Iranian citizenship of such individuals will be revoked and they will not have the right to own immovable property.
Iran’s Judiciary News Agency announced the revocation of Iranian citizenship for dual nationals. Hossein Naqvi Hosseini, spokesman for the National Security Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, told Mizan that this action is being taken “in accordance with the civil law” and that dual nationals who accept the citizenship of another country “are essentially single nationals” and “do not even have the right to own immovable property.”
He called the development of a comprehensive law on citizenship a necessity, saying that the main obstacle to taking action against dual nationals is the “legal vacuum.” He added: “We must define all concepts, specify their limits, and stipulate their prohibitions and restrictions so that the duties of individuals are clear.”
Naqvi Hosseini called one of the legal gaps "the need for conceptual separation between the terms dual citizenship, green card, and right of residence," and emphasized that the limits of the rights and obligations of each must be determined separately.
The spokesperson for the National Security Commission of the Parliament added: "When a person cannot own immovable property, he cannot have dual responsibility or be a government employee."
Naqvi Hosseini said that accepting dual citizenship is “an unacceptable practice within countries,” therefore “this practice is ‘criminal.’” He said: “The punishment for this group of people is the deprivation of Iranian citizenship and some other rights, including government jobs.”
Referring to the Ministry of Intelligence report, he continued: "Most people with dual citizenship are managers, and their dual citizenship has been explicitly stated and their qualifications have been rejected."
This is despite the fact that Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi recently announced that there are no more dual-nationality directors among the country's officials.
Conservatives have repeatedly warned about the possibility of dual nationals being “spies” and have called for their deportation. However, Iran’s intelligence minister warned that due to political games, “you cannot accuse someone of being a spy who, according to experts, has not been a spy.”
He, who is himself a conservative, has considered raising the issue of dual citizenship to be one of the “scenarios” of opponents of Hassan Rouhani’s government. Alavi said: “The issue of dual citizenship is raised in such a way that it seems as if every person who has dual citizenship is corrupt, a foreigner, a traitor, or a spy.”
Some observers, relying on Article 41 of the Constitution, do not consider it permissible to issue a one-time order for all dual nationals. According to Article 41 of the Constitution, Iranian citizenship is the inalienable right of every Iranian, and the government cannot revoke citizenship from any Iranian except at his or her own request or if he or she acquires the citizenship of another country.
But in this principle, the government is given the authority to accept or reject an Iranian citizen's request to renounce citizenship, if it deems it necessary.
Furthermore, although the Islamic Republic has repeatedly stated that it does not recognize dual citizenship, dual citizenship has never been considered a crime in Iranian law.
Source: DW
