Trump travel ban not anti-Islam, UAE minister says

ABU DHABI: US President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations is not 


style="font-size:14.5pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333;background:white;text-decoration:none; text-underline:none">anti-Islam, the United Arab Emirates foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, whose country like neighbouring Saudi Arabia is a close ally of Washington, said it was "wrong to say" that the decision by the new US administration was "directed against a particular religion".

"The United States has made ... a sovereign decision," he said at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, pointing out that it was "provisional" and did not apply to "the large majority" of the world's Muslims.