USA experts had estimated that Iran would need until March to complete all the work involved in idling two-thirds of centrifuges, exporting almost all of its spent fuel, removing a reactor core and pouring concrete in it….
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Iran in response says new U.S. sanctions on its ballistic missile program have NO legal or moral legitimacy.
The Americans released were Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, pastor Saeed Abedini and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, whose name had not been previously made public. The lifting of sanctions and the prisoner deal considerably reduce the hostility between Tehran and Washington that has shaped the Middle East since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979. The U.S. has only removed secondary sanctions that restrict the dealings of other countries with Iran.
“Iran’s recent missile test, for example, was a violation of its worldwide obligations”.
Also on Sunday, the United States announced that Iran will receive $1.7 billion in debt and interest as Obama pledged that it was time to solve the financial disputes between the two countries.
In a separate development, the U.S. and Iran finalised a prisoner swap in which seven Iranians, held in the United States for violating nuclear-related sanctions, were exchanged for four Americans imprisoned in Iran.
“It actually pushed a lot of my friends away from the country just because of this”, said Pedram Farashbandi, who left Iran in 2005.
The UN Security Council has set out new arrangements to monitor an arms embargo on Iran and restrictions on its ballistic missiles and other programs that remain in place after its compliance with last summer’s landmark nuclear deal and the lifting of UN and Western sanctions.
Also Monday, Yukiya Amano, the head of the world’s nuclear watchdog, said Iran has agreed to strengthen its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
President Obama hailed a deal that led to the
release of five Americans from Iranian custody – including a MA man – as “historic progress through diplomacy”, even as he announced new economic sanctions over Iran’s ballistic missile testing.
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Still, Farashbandi said he’s not so certain about the nuclear aspect of the U.S.-Iranian agreement.
