US senator was told of link between Iran sanctions, prisoners

The efforts were beset by several hitches, including the detention of 10 USA sailors by Iran last week in the Persian Gulf and US plans in late December to impose new sanctions on Iran for ballistic missile testing.

A multitude of business regulations – 182,000 by one minister’s count – stands in the way of a rapid flow of foreign investment into Iran after the lifting of nuclear sanctions ended its long isolation from global commerce.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press on the sideline of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016.

Iran is a major player in this year’s edition of the Davos meeting, just days after Tehran sealed a historic deal ending punishing sanctions by the West over its nuclear programme.

He said the nuclear sanctions that the United States called “crippling” were anything but, and that it better be careful about imposing new sanctions.

Corker was then contacted by President Barack Obama’s administration about the link to American prisoners and made a decision to hold off on more calls for sanctions, for a time.

Iran expects the deal will provide it an estimated $100 billion in sanctions relief. We believe the sanctions are illegal.

“Our defense budget, particularly our spending on military hardware is less than a 10th of what Saudi Arabia spends on military hardware and I find it rather freakish that the United States expresses concern over [an] Iranian missile program, which is defensive and doesn’t violate any United Nations resolution”, he said.

“It shows that the United States has an addiction which has been very hard for it to overcome”, Zarif said, specifying, “Its addiction to pressure, addiction to coercion, addiction to sanctions”.

Mr. Zarif led Iran’s delegation in the nuclear talks, working closely with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and counterparts from the European Union, France, Germany, the U.K., Russian Federation and China to reach the accord.

“The United States sells tens of billions of dollars worth of military equipment to the region”, Zarif said.

“We have deals that are being worked out with Airbus all sorts of companies from nuclear technology companies, to irrigation, green energy… a whole range of them”, he said, without elaborating.