“We can confirm that the US citizens who departed Iran this morning after being released from detention have arrived in Germany”, said a US State Department official.
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The freed Americans are to undergo medical care at a United States military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
U.S. sanctions imposed on Iranian entities as punishment for a recent ballistic missile test are illegitimate, the Islamic Republic has said.
What does lifting economic sanctions mean for Iran?
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ruled on Saturday that Iran had fulfilled last year’s agreement with six world powers to curtail its nuclear program, triggering the end of sanctions.
They include slashing by two-thirds its uranium centrifuges, reducing its stockpile of uranium – enough before the deal for several bombs – and removing the core of the Arak reactor which could have given Iran weapons-grade plutonium.
Iran has accused the U.S. of hypocrisy and said that new sanctions imposed by the USA are illegal, as arms sold by Washington are being used against people in Palestine and Yemen, the Iranian Foreign Ministry has stated.
The nuclear talks have brought a sense of normalcy to relations with the US and Iran, with top officials from each country in somewhat regular communication.
In a phone conversation on Sunday evening with Post Executive Editor Martin Baron and Foreign Editor Douglas Jehl, Rezaian thanked the paper for its strong and unwavering support during the time he was held prisoner.
Rezaian is a dual Iran-U.S. citizen convicted of espionage by Iran in a closed-door trial in 2015.
The president spoke at the close of an extraordinary weekend that saw back-to-back the release of five imprisoned Americans and the termination of billions in global sanctions on Iran as part of the nuclear accord. Many have lived under sanctions or wartime austerity for so long that they have no clear expectations about what the future might hold.
Will the US also release Iranians in custody?
What does the deal mean for Iran’s nuclear program?
“For the United States, the settlement could save us billions of dollars that could have been pursued by Iran”.
He said Iran “has not abandoned its aspirations to acquire nuclear weapons, and continues to act to destabilize the Middle East and spread terrorism throughout the world”.
Britain welcomed the deal’s implementation, as did France, which said it would watch to ensure the deal was strictly respected.
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“A lot of work has gone into getting us here, and implementation of this agreement will require a similar effort”, IAEA chief Amano said in a statement after the deal.
