The efforts were beset by several hitches, including the detention of 10 US sailors by Iran last week in the Persian Gulf and USA plans in late December to impose new sanctions on Iran for ballistic missile testing.
Advertisement
Iran on Monday denounced the United States’ fresh sanctions over the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program, accusing Washington of hypocrisy. A fifth American, student Matthew Trevithick, who had been detained in Iran for roughly 40 days, was released separately. She said: ‘These prisoners were held unjustly by a regime that continues to threaten the peace and security of the Middle East… “Yesterday these families finally got the news they’d been waiting for”, he said referring to the USA nationals who have been released by Iran.
In a joint statement, the European Union and Iran said numerous nuclear-related U.S., EU and United Nations sanctions were immediately coming off Iran after it had completed the steps needed to implement last July’s deal.
That also includes online payment options like those offered by U.S.-based PayPal Inc., which in March agreed to pay $7.7 million in a settlement with USA regulators over payments involving countries including Iran.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Yukiya Amano said in a statement: “We have come a long way since the IAEA first started considering the Iran nuclear issue in 2003”.
The article pointed out that Tehran’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had said new sanctions under any pretext would constitute a breach of the nuclear deal. The US maintains the prisoner release was not part of the nuclear deal.
But Iran’s brinkmanship in executing a parallel exchange of prisoners raises new fears about its reliability, including on its nuclear pledges.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, whose moderate administration pushed through the nuclear deal, said Iran now needs to attract foreign investment and liberalize its largely state-run economy.
Advertisement
It drew a line under a standoff dating back to 2002 marked by failed diplomatic initiatives, ever-tighter sanctions, defiant nuclear expansion by Iran and threats of military action.
