Republican lawmakers are taking the Obama administration to task for offering special reassurances to Iran regarding new visa rules.

In the wake of November’s Paris terror attacks, a law aimed at restricting visa-free travel to the U.S. was passed by Congress last week and signed by President Barack Obama. Bill HR158 initiated changes to the current "visa waiver" program which allows the citizens of 38 countries to travel to the U.S. without having to obtain a visa.

Last week's tweaks to the program say that anyone who has visited Iraq, Syria, Iran or Sudan in the previous five years must get a visa before coming to the U.S.

Dual nationals who claim citizenship in any of the singled out countries would need a visa as well.

As NPR reported, Joanne Lin of the American Civil Liberties Union has called the visa requirement discriminatory. "It's wrong -- it's un-American -- [that] in this country people are not judged by their nationality or their citizenship of their parents," she said.

Ali Abdi, an Iranian-American human rights activist, said the law is punishing the wrong people. According to the BBC, Abdi said, "Once again they punish Iranians for crimes committed by terrorists virtually every one of us despise, oppose and are fighting."

Iranian leaders protested that the new law contradicted key points in the nuclear deal Iran signed with the P5+1 earlier this year. According to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement, Iran promised to halt its nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions.

As previously reported, Secretary of State John Kerry told Iranian officials that the Obama administration could help the Islamic Republic to get around the new visa restrictions.

In a letter to Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kerry said, “I am also confident that the recent changes in visa requirements passed in Congress, which the Administration has the authority to waive, will not in any way prevent us from meeting our JCPOA commitments, and that we will implement them so as not to interfere with legitimate business interests of Iran.”

The Secretary of State's attempts to appease Iran were met with immediate criticism from the GOP.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce criticized Kerry's comments as weak and proof of a failed policy toward Tehran and its nuclear program. "Instead of bending over backwards to try to placate the Iranian regime, the White House needs to be holding it accountable for its recent missile tests, its continued support for terrorism, and its wrongful imprisonment of Americans," said Royce.

The Associated Press reports House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said there was nothing ambiguous about the issue. "The administration should follow the law as written and agreed to," said McCarthy.

In response to Kerry’s letter to Iran’s Foreign Minister, several leading GOP figures signed and sent a letter to Kerry and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson voicing their deep concern about the administration's intentions to follow the new law.