“The prisoner exchange, Iran’s dutiful implementation of its nuclear obligations, and the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions all herald a new era of US-Iran relations”, Kayvon Afshari, council spokesman, said in an email on Sunday.
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On Saturday the USA and European Union lifted sanctions against Iran after a report by the global nuclear watchdog said the country had complied with all of the nuclear agreement’s requirements, including the dismantling of the reactor at its Arak nuclear facility.
Yet underscoring the strain that continues to exist between the USA and Iran, the Obama administration also announced new penalties Sunday on 11 individuals and entities involved in Tehran’s ballistic missile program.
The lifting of sanctions came together with a prisoner swap in which four Americans and seven Iranians were exchanged.
The U.S. government would “not rest” until another American citizen, Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran more than eight years ago, was located, he said. “Full cooperation from Iran is also needed”, he said.
Saturday’s developments brought to fruition a deal struck last summer on the 18th day of last-ditch talks in Vienna, capped more than two years of wrangling between Iran and the U.S., China, Russia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
About resolving the three-decade old financial dispute with Iran, Obama said Tehran would be “returned its own funds, including appropriate interest, but much less than the amount Iran sought”. “And we are going to remain vigilant about it. We’re not going to waver in the defense of our security or that of our allies and partners”, Obama said in a televised statement on Sunday morning from the White House.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Tuesday against American “deceit” after Tehran finalized a landmark nuclear deal with world powers led by the United States.
Khamenei did not name any USA political figures, but all of the Republican presidential candidates looking to succeed President Barack Obama when he leaves office a year from now have attacked the Iran nuclear pact, saying it will not keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and poses a security threat to Israel.
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Obama said Iran has agreed “to deepen our coordination” in the search for Robert Levinson, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who disappeared in Iran in 2007, and who, according to his family members, was part of the discussion that led to the prisoner swap.
