7 days that changed US-Iran relations

They claimed that America’s goal was to topple the Islamic regime and the economic stranglehold would stay in place until this was achieved.

In a rare Sunday address to the nation, President Obama hailed the historic nuclear deal with Iran as a “smart” approach that paved the way for the release of several Americans held prisoner in Iran and other diplomatic breakthroughs. Any new Iranian supply to the market is likely to keep oil prices down. Businessman Donald Trump, playing up his skills as a boardroom broker, has suggested he would renegotiate the nuclear deal.

The new sanctions over Iran’s ballistic missiles program were delayed by two weeks in order to not endanger negotiations over Saturday’s prisoner swap deal. Bahram Mechanich and Tooraj Faridi, both of Houston, and Khosro Afghahi, of Los Angeles, were released along with four other Iranians held in other parts of the U.S., Mechanich’s attorney Joel Androphy said. I had been tracking many of those companies for years.

“Iran is the greatest state sponsor of terror in the world”, Pletka said.

Democratic lawmakers who supported the agreement applauded the sanctions announced Sunday.

Obama described the release of six Iranian-Americans and one Iranian charged in the United States as a “reciprocal, humanitarian gesture” that was a one-time event.

Iran unveiled a secret missile program in October when it conducted its first ballistic missile test. The U.S. argues the ballistic missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi, who is believed to be detained in Iran, was not part of this weekend’s prisoner swap.

It was not only sanctions that forced Iran to the table: the United States and Israel also developed one of the most sophisticated cyber weapons to destroy the centrifuges that Iran has now been dismantling.

Will the US also release Iranians in custody?

Jared Huffman, who represents Rezaian and has been involved in his case, said the journalist, Hekmati and Abedini won’t be on USA soil for a few days.

The national media is calling it a “prisoner exchange”. “This achievement clearly demonstrates that with political will, perseverance, and through multilateral diplomacy, we can solve the most hard issues”, she said.

“This will turn Iran from the most sanctioned state to the country with the most monitored nuclear program in the world”, says Ali Vaez, a senior Iran analyst with the International Crisis Group. They said Iran needs to understand the fighting won’t be resolved as long as Syrian President Bashar Assad remains in power.

A fifth American, student Matthew Trevithick was released independently of the larger swap, and already had headed home.

And it gets better. Obama told me so.

The November anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran drew thousands of demonstrators, who burned American flags and hoisted signs denouncing McDonald’s and Starbucks. Kerry said the United States made clear it wouldn’t release an accused murderer or narcotics offender.

Instead, he showed the world that the United States has become a Banana Republic, where the rule of law is subjected to the whims of the Leader. Is it because Mr. Levinson is Jewish that the President decided not to insist that he be included in this diabolical exchange? “All should prevent any domestic and foreign trivialities that thwart us”, he said.

“If President Obama doesn’t like the rhetoric, that he should stop being the world’s leading global financier of radical Islamic terrorism, then he should stop financing radical Islamic terrorism!”

MARTIN: NPR White House correspondent Scott Horsley.

The Obama administration worked for almost 14 months behind the scenes to negotiate the prisoner trade. “Obama and his people don’t like government people to begin with”.