“This is a good day”, Obama said in a statement Sunday from the White House. US officials said Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former US Marine Amir Hekmati, and pastor Saeed Abedini were on the flight, but not Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari.
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“We can confirm that our detained USA citizens have been released and that those who wished to depart Iran have left”, a senior U.S. administration official said.
Lawyers also confirmed the release of several Iranian-Americans held in USA prisons after being charged or convicted for violating sanctions.
Within hours of the release of the Americans, the USA imposed sanctions against those involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program as a result of Tehran’s firing of a medium-range ballistic missile. The fourth individual was not clearly identified.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has congratulated the nation following the implementation of a landmark nuclear accord and subsequent lifting of sanctions against Tehran. “Most of important of all, we achieved this historic progress through diplomacy, without resorting to another war in the Middle East”.
The accord, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, would provide sanctions relief for Iran in exchange for limits on its controversial nuclear programme.
“We’ve now closed off every single path Iran had to building a bomb”, he said.
“From Presidents Franklin Roosevelt to John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan, the United States has never been afraid to pursue diplomacy with our adversaries” he said. “And we have been tireless”, Obama said.
The US president added that the country was subject to the strictest checks on its civilian nuclear programme ever negotiated in a deal.
“We Iranians have reached out to the world … have opened a new chapter in the relations of Iran with the world”, Mr Rouhani said.
But Obama said “there remain profound differences between the USA and Iran”, including the country’s violations of human rights and its ballistic missile program.
Highlighting the brief detention and release of 10 U.S. Navy sailors who strayed into Iranian waters last week, Obama said the quick resolution to the matter was further evidence of a better relationship with Iran than in previous years. “They are civilians and their release is a one-time gesture to Iran given the unique opportunity offered by this moment and the larger circumstances at play”. After the exchange happened yesterday, however, the United States went ahead with the sanctions anyhow.
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The new sanctions are mostly aimed at individuals and some small companies accused of shipping crucial technologies to Iran, including carbon fiber and missile parts that can survive re-entry forces.
