U.S. President Donald Trump's foreign policy adviser Walid Phares told RIA Novosti that the goal of Trump's executive order suspending entry from seven Muslim countries is to safeguard the United States from terrorists disguised as refugees.

Phares said that it was clear that the measures taken by the Trump administration were not directed at representatives of any specific faith or race or ethnic group, they were not against Muslims or Muslim countries. Trump made this decision to fight terrorism. The strategy was prevention of mixing of migrants and terrorists. France, Germany, the United Kingdom had already suffered because of this, he added.

The president’s order suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely, and blocked entry into the United States for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.