Iran denounces new USA sanctions on missile programme

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Monday that Tehran would uphold its end of the nuclear deal as long as the “other side” does, according to state news agency IRNA. “The comments made by some American politicians in last two, three days are suspicious”.

“Iran’s missile program has never been created to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons”, Mr Ansari was quoted as saying by local media.

However, hours after the release of Americans, the Obama administration also announced new sanctions on Sunday on individuals and 11 entities involved in Tehran’s ballistic missile programme.

His remarks were an implicit rebuke to Republicans, who have criticized the president, a Democrat, for his engagement with a country that has always been an enemy of the United States.

Iran reached a deal with the P5+1 group of countries – the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany – over its nuclear energy program last July. 7 Iranians in the United States were released from prison, and 14 Iranians who are not in the US had charges dropped against them as part of the agreement, the official said. The agreement front-loaded almost all of the requirements for Tehran to disable and dismantle key nuclear activities that had put Iran in noncompliance with its Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligations.

According to Kerry’s statement, all of the “approximately 4,700 private USA claims filed against the government of Iran at the tribunal were resolved during the first 20 years of the tribunal, resulting in payments of more than $2.5 billion in awards to us nationals and companies through that process”.

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

Obama said that, despite the prisoner swap and the implementation of the nuclear deal, “there are profound differences” between the two countries.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry slammed the new US sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s missile system.

“We will continue to enforce these sanctions vigorously”, Obama said.

“We have a rare chance to pursue a new path, a different, better future that delivers progress for both our peoples and the wider world”, said Obama.

(Cruz) “Every bad actor on Earth has been told, go capture an American”.