From the Iranian perspective, the JCPOA is a test of whether or not it can trust the United States. “That precisely is why the president made preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon a top national security priority, and we’re making progress in actually accomplishing that goal”.
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Sanctions on Iran may soon be lifted.
Associated Press writer Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed reporting.
One shipment of such material in one day could take two or three months for Iran to acquire enough weapons-grade uranium for one nuclear weapon, he noted.
President Hassan Rohani responded by calling the sanctions threat illegal and ordering his Defense Ministry to accelerate Iran’s ballistic-missile program.
A priority for them was to get the sanctions lifted before Majlis elections on February 26th. The ships – including the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier – were moving from the Arabian Sea into the Persian Gulf to assist an air campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.
But the US has a lot at stake in calming tensions.
But as that process began in early October, a group of hard-line Iranian lawmakers wrote a letter urging President Rohani to halt the deactivation of centrifuges.
“Iran’s capture of these sailors raises serious questions about the Iranian regime and what it will take for the Obama administration to understand that Iran is not a partner in peace”, Pompeo said in a statement. The deal provides safeguards that would allow Iran to pursue civilian nuclear projects while ensuring it would not seek to build a nuclear bomb. The IAEA will, however, continue to regularly report to its member states on Iran.
The brief detention of the sailors has ratcheted up political tension in the US over the agreement, which some Republican presidential candidates claim they would throw out if they are elected. However, an Iranian official told Reuters that there was not much room for major export increases elsewhere in Asia due to slowing demand in China and also because of a shift toward more non-Middle East crude oil.
A video was released showing one of the United States sailors saying: “It was a mistake that was our fault and we apologise for our mistake”.
The European Union has already formally enacted the legislative framework for lifting all nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions on Iran by publishing the documents on its official website.
US State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday said the implementation day of the nuclear deal is “close”. Congressional Republicans view Obama’s approach as appeasement of an unrelentingly aggressive Iran.
For the Obama administration, the budding Kerry-Zarif relationship offers opportunities and pitfalls.
US Secretary of State John Kerry told Iran’s foreign minister that Tehran’s capture and release of 10 US sailors could be turned into a “good story” for both countries, a US official said Wednesday.
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“It is clear that today this kind of issue was able to be peacefully resolved and efficiently resolved, and that is a testament to the critical role that diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure, and strong”.
