Obama cites Americans’ release as win for ‘smart’ diplomacy

Yet underscoring the strain that continues to exist between the USA and Iran, the Obama administration also announced new penalties Sunday on 11 individuals and entities involved in Tehran’s ballistic missile program.

Iran now has access to some $100 billion in assets that had been frozen by global sanctions over its nuclear program.

President Barack Obama said Sunday that US diplomacy – and not another war in the Middle East – allowed for a nuclear deal with Iran and the release of five Americans from that country.

Three of the four USA citizens freed by Iran in a prisoner swap arrived on January 17, 2016 at a U.S. military base in Germany after a brief stop in Geneva, an American official said.

In his address, the President also spoke about the nuclear accord with Iran.

Obama’s decision came after the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Iran’s compliance of the historic nuclear deal, known as JCPOA, reached last summer. “The Iranian government has implemented its pledges pertaining to economic promises and is committed to do so”, Rouhani said, vowing to raise the GDP from the current three percent to five percent in the next year.

Western governments hailed the announcement as a milestone though some critics, including Israel, alleged that Tehran was still seeking to develop a nuclear weapon.

Obama said talks between Washington and Tehran to secure the release of the Americans held in Iran “accelerated” after the nuclear deal.

“Those who wished to depart Iran have left”, according to a senior USA official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter and privacy concerns for the families. But Iran said he had taken off, too.

FILE – In this video frame grab image made from the Iranian broadcaster IRIB TV, U.S. citizen Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, accused by Iran of spying for the Central Intelligence Agency, sits in Tehran’s revolutionary court, in Iran, Dec. 27, 2011.

The lengthy and complex negotiations with Iran about its nuclear program climaxed in an agreement announced last July, but there was no mention of the prisoners issue at the time.

“Any action will be met by a reaction”, he said.

“Friends and colleagues at The Washington Post are elated by the wonderful news that Jason Rezaian has been released from Evin Prison and has safely left the country with his wife, Yeganeh Salehi”.

Minutes after the IAEA’s ruling, the United States formally lifted banking, steel, shipping and other sanctions on Iran. Japan said it planned to lift most of its sanctions against Iran, including a halt to fresh investments in Iranian oil and gas projects, “within a few days”.

“I put a big, ‘Who knows?”‘ on that, Kerry said, but expressed hope.

The Obama administration worked for almost 14 months behind the scenes to negotiate the prisoner trade.

The exchange also didn’t cover Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American businessman who advocated better ties between Iran and the U.S. He was thought to have been arrested in October.