Iranian, US foreign minister focus on clinching nuclear deal

Expectations were high on Saturday as the Iranian foreign minister said that nuclear-related sanctions on his country would be lifted imminently, with some Iranian social media accounts saying the official announcement was coming within “the hour”.

Either way, Iran adding to an over supplied global oil market is bound to put more pressure on prices.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini are to be joined later in the day by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Vienna, headquarters of the IAEA.

President Obama delegated that authority to Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday through a presidential memorandum, a directive similar to an executive order.

VIENNA/TEHRAN, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) – Western countries have taken pragmatic steps to start the process of lifting their sanctions against Iran while Iran has responded positively and voiced the hope that some of those sanctions can be lifted this year.

Iran has various obligations under the nuclear agreement. Ten US Navy troops were briefly held, before being released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. “Today is also a good day for the world”.

But even as the diplomatic maneuvering on the nuclear issue dragged on into the afternoon, progress appeared to be developing on another area of Iran-U.S. tensions. The longer the United States hesitates to punish Iran for its bad behavior, the more we invite it to cheat on the nuclear deal and flout worldwide rules.

She and Zarif were expected to make a joint statement later Saturday.

Mohammad Javad Zarif says the report will mark “Implementation Day”, when world powers provide Iran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for it curbing its nuclear program.

Already Saudi Arabia and Iran, fighting a proxy war in Yemen and key players in the Syrian conflict, are at daggers drawn following Saudi Arabia’s execution of a Shiite cleric in early January and the subsequent ransacking of the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

“I believe its not just an important day for the economic activities in Iran, it is going to open the possibilities in Iran for economic engagement”, Zarif said.

Responding to the delay, Zarif, in a tweet, said: “Diplomacy requires patience”.

The sanctions have cost Iran more than more than $160bn (£102bn) in oil revenue since 2012 alone.

In the months to come, our willingness to effectively and aggressively respond to Iran’s ballistic missile tests, provocative actions in the Arabian Gulf, and other bad behavior will set the tone for our enforcement efforts through the next decade and beyond. “It is critical that violations do not go unpunished, or the deal could be killed by a thousand paper cuts”, said Ms Kelsey Davenport of the Arms Control Association.