The U.S. Treasury Department said on Sunday after the release that it had imposed the sanctions on 11 companies and individuals for supplying Iran’s ballistic missile program.
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“I had hoped it (their release) would have happened a couple months ago actually and then it hit a snag and we continued to negotiate”.
“I didn’t know who we were swapping for, but I knew that the ballistic missile sanctions were being held until such a time that we could work something out on the hostages”, Corker said.
“We will respond to such propaganda stunts and measures meant to harm [us], by more robustly pursuing our lawful missile program and promoting our defense capabilities and national security”, the statement said.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz from Texas and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio say they would rip up the nuclear deal and start over, on the thinking that the United States would be able to persuade European allies to reimpose economic sanctions.
“Sanctions are gone but there is a long way between sanctions and development”, he said, speaking to an economics conference in Tehran.
The United States insists Iran’s ballistic missile tests violated U.N. sanctions – sanctions that will remain in effect for at least eight more years under the terms of the nuclear accord. But in that confirmation, the administration official said only detained US citizens “who wished to depart Iran” had left, suggesting some may not have gone.
U.S. Republican presidential candidates took swipes on Tuesday at the lifting of sanctions against Iran, but they disagree on how they would to handle Tehran if they win the White House at the November 8 election.
Sources described to Reuters before the prisoner deal was announced how Secretary of State John Kerry and other officials scrambled to ensure that the possibility of new sanctions over Iran’s ballistic missile program did not derail the effort. At issue was money used by Iran to buy military equipment from the USA before the break in ties between the countries.
Zarif insisted his country has “always played a positive role” in those two countries.
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Welcoming the lifting of nuclear- related sanctions against Iran as “milestone”, India today said it looks forward to further developing its longstanding, close economic cooperation with Tehran, including in the spheres of energy and regional connectivity.
