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Iran’s Khamenei welcomes sanctions lift, warns of US “deceit”
Posted On Jan 20 2016
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The decision came just a day after Washington had lifted a series of painful economic penalties as part of an global deal struck last summer in which Iran promised to roll back its nuclear program.
The BBC reports on Iran’s reactions to new sanctions against its ballistic missile programme and breaks down the sanctions that are now lifted as part of the nuclear deal.
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday that the U.S. will impose further sanctions if Tehran continues missile program implementation.
On Sunday, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 11 companies and individuals for helping to supply Iran’s ballistic missile program.
Tehran denounced the new US sanctions as illegitimate. “Yesterday these families finally got the news they’d been waiting for”, he said referring to the USA nationals who have been released by Iran. Among the those returning to the USA were Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who had been charged with espionage and three other serious crimes, including “collaborating with hostile governments” and “propaganda against the establishment”. The settlement, reached through arbitration at the Hague Claims Tribunal, related to funds once earmarked for Iran to buy U.S. military equipment before Iran’s revolution in 1979.
“America sells tens of billions of dollars of weaponry each year to countries in the region”.
The White House said its lawyers assessed that the USA could have faced a “significantly higher judgment” if the case continued and Obama said there “was no benefit to the U.S.in dragging this out”. Mr. Rouhani said that his country would remain committed to its obligations as long as the Powers were committed to their own; “solving Iran’s nuclear issue provides an important example of the contemporary diplomatic efforts”.
Earlier Saturday, Iranian Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held a series of meetings with his European Union and U.S. counterparts – including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry – on implementing the accord.
