Most of the United Nations sanctions on Iran also ended on Saturday automatically after the UN Security Council received a report by the UN nuclear watchdog confirming Iran fulfilled commitments under the nuclear deal with six world powers, diplomats said.
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“President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran is fatally flawed and gravely jeopardizes the national security interests of the American people, our ally Israel and other peaceful nations in the Middle East and around the world”, GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson said.
Lifting the sanctions will unfreeze billions of dollars of assets and allow Iran’s oil to be sold internationally.
Iran could produce an extra 700,000 barrels of oil per day, on top of its current output of 2.9 million barrels, according to the International Energy Agency.
The news comes the same day Iran and the USA agreed to a prisoner swap.
USA officials said the five Americans, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, were to be flown from Iran to Switzerland on a Swiss plane and then brought to a US military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, for medical treatment.
That means Iran will have verifiably cut down its nuclear program enough that it can get some sanctions relief in return.
The bureau further said that Iran continues to take action to undermine the stability in the Middle East and spread terrorism across the world while violating its global commitments.
“This achievement clearly demonstrates that with political will, perseverance, and through multilateral diplomacy, we can solve the most hard issues and find practical solutions that are effectively implemented”, Mogherini said in a joint statement with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
The IAEA said that its “inspectors on the ground verified that Iran has carried out all measures required under the [July deal]…to enable Implementation Day to occur”.
Australia will soon lift economic sanctions against Iran after it met its commitments under a nuclear deal, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says. This procedure prevents any of the veto powers which negotiated the accord, such as Russian Federation and China, from blocking any snap-back of Iran sanctions.
Virginia Rep. Dave Brat tweeted a poll to his followers asking if they approve or disapprove of the sanctions being lifted.
TEHRAN, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) – Iran will respond to any new USA sanctions and interfering measures over its defensive missile program, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said here on Thursday.
Differences between Iran and U.S. over Tehran’s long term uranium enrichment research plan still need to be resolved, a source told Xinhua on Saturday.
Tehran said it could significantly increase its oil output as soon as the sanctions are lifted.
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Iran always denied wanting nuclear weapons.
