Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Jabber-Ansari said Monday the USA sanctions – imposed hours after global sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program were lifted – reflect “Iranophobia” and hostility.
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Together, the lifting of sanctions and the prisoner deal help to ease the hostility between Tehran and Washington that has shaped the Middle East since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee said the deal, which it strongly opposed, was a turning point for Iran’s strength as a “terrorist state” and its ability to pursue regional dominance, as tens of billions of dollars are repatriated.
He also said: “Japan will further strengthen the historically friendly relationship with Iran”. “On the sidelines of the nuke negotiations, our diplomats at the highest level, including Secretary [John] Kerry, used every meeting to push Iran to release our Americans”, he said.
Those sanctions came in response to test launches of Iranian ballistic missiles in October and November that United Nations experts determined were capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The nuclear talks have brought a sense of normalcy to relations with the USA and Iran, with top officials from each country in somewhat regular communication.
USA officials said the sanctions are being imposed as a result of Tehran’s firing of a medium-range ballistic missile, Fox News reported. Congressman Jim Costa sees the prisoner release and the nuclear deal with Iran as a cautious step forward.
S anctions against Iran’s nuclear programme were officially lifted on Saturday after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) determined that Iran had fulfilled its obligations under an agreement reached in July 2015. “They don’t trust us”, he said.
The White House confirmed in a background call with reporters Sunday that Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter detained then imprisoned by Iran, had been freed along with four other Americans held in that country.
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The network “obfuscated the end user of sensitive goods for missile proliferation by using front companies in third countries to deceive foreign suppliers”, the statement said, adding that the five people had “worked to procure ballistic missile components for Iran”.
