By John Gregory/Illinois Radio Network

KENILWORTH – One Illinois congressman has written to the U.S. Secretary of State opposing any change to a recently passed law involving the Visa Waiver Program and people who traveled to Iran.

The law says anyone from the 38 countries included in the Visa Waiver Program who within the last five years has visited a country linked to terrorism, like Iran or Syria, has to go through an embassy or consulate to obtain a visa before visiting the U.S. This essentially voids the Visa Waiver Program for those travelers.

After Iran claimed the law could disrupt the country’s nuclear deal, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry suggested the provisions involving Iran could be waived.

U.S. Rep. Bob Dold (R-Kenilworth) says that amounts to circumventing an act of Congress.

“The intent of the legislation that passed just last week was to ensure people who visited Iran, the greatest state sponsor of terror in the world, understand that they must go through a different process than the Visa Waiver Program in order to get into the United States,” Dold said.

Dold says the intention isn’t to block anyone who has visited Iran from coming to the U.S., and feels the country needs to make sure any visit to a nation linked to terrorism was for a legitimate business reason.