“As I said in my State of the Union address, ensuring the security of the United States and the security of our people demands a smart, patient and disciplined approach to the world”.
Advertisement
Tens of billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian assets will now be unfrozen and global companies that have been barred from doing business there will be able to exploit a market hungry for everything from automobiles to airplane parts.
Republicans have been desperately trying to make hay all week over the 10 sailors who were detained and released by Iran, pointing to it as evidence that the nuclear deal should be scuttled, and even bringing up the prisoners who remained in Iran.
But Obama said he decided “that a strong confident America could advance our national security by engaging directly with the Iranian government”.
“When Americans are freed, that’s something we can all celebrate”, Obama said. They were Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter who was captured in July 2014 and convicted of espionage previous year; Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine captured in 2011 and sentenced to death for espionage in 201; Saeed Abedini, a Christian pastor held by Iran since 2012; and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, whom the administration only identified as a hostage this weekend.
“Nobody has been defeated in the deal, neither inside the country nor the countries that were negotiating with us”, he said, referring to the United States, the UK, France, Russia, China and Germany. And we will continue to enforce these sanctions, vigorously.
GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump criticized the terms of the prisoner deal, which involved Iran releasing four prisoners, the USA pardoning seven Iranians charged with sanctions violations and the US dropping extradition requests for 14 more Iranians.
Minutes after the IAEA’s ruling, the United States formally lifted banking, steel, shipping and other sanctions on Iran. “The region, the United States and the world will be more secure”, Obama said. “Today will prove that we can solve important problems through diplomacy”.
In a sign of those differences, Washington announced it had made a decision to target the Islamic republic’s ballistic missile programme with new measures.
Iranian officials had specifically warned that the prisoner swap put into effect Saturday and concluded Sunday could be derailed if the missile-related sanctions went ahead, these officials said.
Obama said Iran has agreed to “deepen coordination” as the United States works to find Levinson and reunite him with his wife and children.
IRIB OFFICIAL WEBSITE / HANDOUT/EPA American military personnel on their boat after they were captured by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on January 13.
The prisoner deal was the culmination of months of diplomatic contacts, secret talks and legal manoeuvring which came close to falling apart because of a threat by Washington in December to impose fresh sanctions on Iran for recent ballistic missile tests.
The nuclear accord comes with big risks for Obama, whose most significant foreign policy achievement hinges in part on Iran’s willingness to live up to its obligations under the accord, including an unprecedented inspections program.
Advertisement
He also said Saturday marked a “milestone” in making sure Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon. “Following the nuclear deal, you, especially young Iranians have the opportunity to build new ties with the world”.
