Iran deal vindication of ‘strong American diplomacy’: Obama

“The US sanctions against Iran’s ballistic missile program… have no legal or moral legitimacy”, he said.

Obama said Iran has a vibrant culture that has so much to contribute to the world in commerce, science and the arts, but “your government’s threats and actions to destabilize your region have isolated Iran from much of the world”.

Tehran newspapers largely welcomed the implementation of the deal.

“Today marks the start of a safer world”, said Secretary of State John Kerry.

Rouhani said Iran should use the expected influx of money and investments to spark the “economic mutation” of the country, creating jobs and enhancing quality-of-life for Iranian citizens.

In the months leading up this past weekend’s implementation of the nuclear deal, Iranian authorities pursued a renewed crackdown on free expression, jailing several writers and artists, including award-winning filmmaker Keywan Karimi.

A fifth American, Matthew Trevithick, was also released by Iran, though his release was not part of the negotiated prisoner swap.

The US said it had offered clemency to seven Iranians being held in the US for sanctions violations.

Rohani also pointed out that Iran now needs political tranquility to best benefit from the new economic reality. Amano will travel to Iran on Sunday.

Oil revenues will make up less than 25 per cent of the proposed budget for the next Iranian calendar year that begins March 21, down from 33 per cent the previous year.

“Yes, President Rouhani will be in Paris on January 28. Now our governments are talking to each other”. Economists call it the biggest windfall in history, with as much as an estimated $150 billion of Iran’s frozen assets being unlocked from banks across the globe. How the rest is spent will reveal the direction of internal power battles between Iranian hard-liners and pragmatists.

“The lifting of sanctions opens for Iran the opportunity to become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and eliminates other limitations, which the Islamic Republic has been facing in the regional foreign policy”, he said.

“These things are a reminder of what we can achieve when we lead with strength and wisdom”, he said. “The question is to what degree will they have fights at home about what to do with it”.

In an internal memo to Post staff, Executive Editor Martin Baron and Foreign Editor Douglas Jehl said they had spoken briefly by telephone with Rezaian, who was being evaluated at a USA military hospital in Germany. Iran, however, has said he was also on the flight – a discrepancy, which has not yet been settled. To appear on the ballot, candidates must be vetted and approved by Iran’s Guardian Council, controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Kerry said the United States made clear it wouldn’t release an accused murderer or narcotics offender. What can you tell us?

ERDBRINK: Well, I would say that – I would think that a lot of people would probably be a bit cynical as well because in the end, it were in the United States and Europe and the United Nations that they placed these sanctions on Iran.

But he added that “the revival of German-Iranian economic, and especially financial, relations is a long-term process”. “I thought it was done”. Videos of kneeling USA sailors detained this week by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard navy have outraged many in Congress who were already incensed by the agreement.

The latest measures were due to be introduced in December, but were delayed as negotiations on the nuclear sanctions were ongoing.

He said differences with Iran remained, and the U.S. would “remain steadfast in opposing Iran’s destabilising behaviour elsewhere” – such as its missile tests.