Amano’s visit to Tehran came two days after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini announced in a joint statement that the implementation of the nuclear deal has officially been started.
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Obama said he hopes the moves lead to more cooperation between the US and Iran going forward.
Those on the plane were Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Idaho, and former Marine Amir Hekmati from MI.
The International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano has also said that its inspectors on the ground had verified that the country “has carried out all measures required under the JCPOA to enable Implementation Day to occur”.
Concerns that fresh Iranian exports will worsen a supply glut have helped push oil prices to 12-year lows, and they plunged below US$28 a barrel early on Monday.
Tehran decried the new measures as “illegitimate”. The agreement puts Iran’s various nuclear activities under IAEA watch for up to 15 years, with an option to re-impose sanctions should Tehran break its commitments. “We can confirm that our detained USA citizens have been released and that those who wished to depart Iran have left”, a senior administration official said.
“These things are a reminder of what we can achieve when we lead with strength and wisdom”, he said.
The prisoner exchange was announced on Saturday but U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry said various last-minute details delayed the departure from Iran of the Swiss flight that was to take the freed Americans and some family members to Europe.
Obama said that Iran’s funds and interests were being returned, “but much less than the amount Iran sought”.
Obama said the settlement between the U.S. and Iran at The Hague would save United States money. The missiles are believed capable of delivering nuclear warheads to foreign targets.
These steps, combined with tighter IAEA inspections, extend to at least one year – from just a few months previously – how long Iran would need to make enough fissile material for one nuclear bomb.
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A United Nations resolution calls on Iran to refrain from testing missiles created to carry nuclear weapons. Under the deal, Iran committed to reduce its operating centrifuges enriching uranium by two-thirds.
