Obama Imposes Ballistic Missile Sanctions on Iran

Moments later, President Obama hailed the nuclear deal, which is being implemented following verification by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran had restricted its sensitive nuclear activities.

July’s nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers came into effect Saturday evening, triggering an end to years of sweeping economic and financial sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear work.

United States officials have said the Treasury planned to announce the penalties in late December, but held off after Iran’s foreign minister said they could have derailed the prisoner exchange that took place this weekend.

However, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said on Monday: “Iran’s missile programme has never been created to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons”.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday that the U.S. will impose further sanctions if Tehran continues missile program implementation.

“We’ve achieved this historic progress through diplomacy”, he said, “without resorting to another war in the Middle East”.

However, on Sunday, the USA imposed more limited sanctions against a number of companies, including those based in China and United Arab Emirates, and five individuals for supplying Iran with material and funds for its ballistic missile program, which the US claims could be useful in helping Iran deliver a nuclear weapon.

“We talked about future cooperation, especially in the new atmosphere, and we partially drew the roadmap” for continued efforts, state television quoted Mr Salehi as saying after the talks.

After a stop in Switzerland Sunday, Rezaian and two others, Marine veteran Amir Hekmati and pastor Saeed Abedini, arrived in Germany, where they are undergoing medical checkups.

The highly complex deal drew a line under a standoff dating back to 2002 marked by failed diplomatic initiatives, ever-tighter sanctions, defiant nuclear expansion by Iran and threats of military action.

In recent months, Iran tested two nuclear-capable ballistic missiles despite United Nations Security Council 2231, which gives the Iran nuclear deal global force and prohibits such actions.

Obama told reporters that the nuclear pact, which allows Tehran to regain access to some $100 billion in assets that had been frozen overseas, ensures that the world is “safer”.

“With the nuclear deal done, prisoners released, the time was right to resolve this dispute as well”, he said, adding that the US remained “steadfast in opposing Iran’s destabilizing behavior elsewhere”.

And finally – there’s a mystery man, the fourth American prisoner who was released along with the others, but apparently stayed behind in Iran. Already, some 38 million barrels of oil are ready to enter the market, according to the International Energy Agency.