Obama said that although the Iran deal was never meant to resolve all problems between the US and Iran, it had now created a window “to try to resolve important issues”.
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The US imposed sanctions on 11 companies and individuals for supplying Iran’s ballistic missile programme in a move delayed by over two weeks so as not to endanger this weekend’s release of American prisoners, sources familiar with the matter said.
The four are Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Tehran bureau chief, Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Idaho, Amir Hekmati, a former Marine from Flint, Michigan, and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari.
Rezaian had been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year on espionage charges.
“He found escape in the fiction he was allowed to read, and today he was avidly reading whatever he wanted”, the Post memo said, adding that Rezaian found isolation the most hard thing about his ordeal. The United States decided not to block the request, U.S. officials said. The settlement, reached through arbitration at the Hague Claims Tribunal, related to funds once earmarked for Iran to buy United States military equipment before Iran’s revolution in 1979.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has urged the worldwide community to work towards establishing a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East as it welcomed Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
OFAC also issued a statement that “establishes a favorable licensing policy” for the sale of aircraft and spare parts to Iran, provided the transactions don’t involve someone still under USA sanctions.
He said earlier this month he supported Obama’s decision not to impose missile sanctions at that time, trusting that the president made the call based on information not available to the public.
A U.S. Treasury official said Iran’s ballistic missile programme poses “a significant threat to regional and global security”.
Despite the new authorizations, it will still be tough for Western, and especially US companies to engage in business with Iran.
USA officials said on Saturday that completion of the prisoner swap deal and the verification of the nuclear deal weren’t linked.
Minutes after the IAEA’s ruling, the United States formally lifted banking, steel, shipping and other sanctions on Iran. The agreement guarantees the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
“The U.S. has never been afraid to pursue diplomacy with our adversaries”, he said.
It is also a crowning achievement for Rouhani. However, it said “various regulatory authorities” have released guidance since the deal was implemented on Saturday.
The lifting of sanctions comes as oil prices are at historic lows and Mr Rouhani did not specify where the investment would come from.
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The European Commission said it would undertake a first “technical assessment mission” in February to explore energy ties with Iran. Iranian analysts say it is likely to include sectors such as oil, gas and transport.
