Updated on Saturday, December 02, 2006, 00:00 IST

Tehran, Dec 02: Iran has passed a law requiring immigration officials to fingerprint US passport holders despite President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's opposition to the measure.

A spokesman for the Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog that must vet all bills before they become law, announced the approval of the legislation today, the official Iranian News Agency reported.

"The Guardian Council approved the bill requiring inspecting and fingerprinting American nationals upon arrival in Iran," Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei said today.

Kadkhodaei said the government "is required to inspect and fingerprint all American nationals at entry ports and visa issuance centres in consistency with the US behaviour." The counsil approved the law earlier this week, he said.

Iran's Parliament passed the bill on November 19th.

Ahmadinejad last month said he was against the bill because has no quarrel with ordinary Americans.

The power to cancel the law lies with Parliament and the guardian council, which must pass a new legislation that annuls the measure.

Conservatives drafted the law in retaliation for the US requirement that Iranian visitors be fingerprinted. The US measure, which also applies to nationals of some other countries, was implemented after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki last month announced his opposition to the parliamentary bill.

Small numbers of American passport holders visit Iran, mostly academics interested in Iran's history and culture.

Bureau Report