Reporter Jason Rezaian in good spirits after release from Iran

President Barack Obama on yesterday heralded the release of Americans held prisoner in Iran and the full implementation of a historic nuclear accord with the Islamic Republic, holding both up as victories for “smart” diplomacy and fulfillment of his pledge to deal directly with enemies of the United States.

Separately, German industry expects a steep rise in exports to Iran following the lifting of worldwide sanctions, and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Sunday he would seek to drum up trade on visit Tehran in early May.

“When Americans are freed, that’s something we can all celebrate”, Obama said.

The Treasury Department sanctioned 11 individuals and entities for involvement in procurement on behalf of Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Iran would manage to decrease tensions with the West “gradually” after the global deal on Tehran’s nuclear program started to be implemented and Western sanctions were removed, an Iranian expert said.

“He’s going to enjoy a nice rest of the weekend with his wife and then get back to work probably tomorrow”, Androphy said.

He was sentenced to 24 months in prison last February. “We are a messenger of peace, stability and security in the region and the world”, he said.

European companies also fear a US shift if a Republican president opposed to the nuclear deal is elected in November, analysts and industry representatives say. In a measure of the billions of dollars that are at stake, Tehran announced that it planned to buy 114 Airbus jets, while the head of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Co. said Sunday that the country planned to boost production by 1 million barrels a day, about a 33 percent increase in output. “Ultimately that did not advance America’s interests”, Obama said in comments aimed at a skeptical U.S. public”.

“Iran “…is potentially a huge market for Airbus and our competitors”, Airbus Chief Executive Fabrice Bregier was quoted as saying recently by the Financial Times, adding the company had already made some contacts.

The lifting of sanctions came together with a prisoner swap in which four Americans and seven Iranians were exchanged.

US officials say a fifth American detained in Iran, a student, has been released in a move unrelated to a prisoner swap earlier between the two countries.

“It actually pushed a lot of my friends away from the country just because of this”, said Pedram Farashbandi, who left Iran in 2005.

Iran’s Gulf Arab adversaries were silent on news of the nuclear deal’s implementation, in what was perhaps a sign of unease at the rapprochement.

The landmark Iran nuclear agreement, struck July 14 after decades of hostility, defused the likelihood of US or Israeli military action against Iran, something Zarif alluded to. The Obama administration on Saturday also removed 400 Iranians and others from its sanctions list and took a series of other steps to lift selected restrictions on interactions with Iran.

The American Iranian Council, which promotes better relationships between the US and Iran, went further, praising the deals between Washington and Teheran as portending a turning point after 37 years of icy relations between the two countries, beginning with Iranian revolution of 1979.

Minutes after the IAEA’s ruling, the United States formally lifted banking, steel, shipping and other sanctions on Iran.

Talking to reporters in his plane after landing Sunday morning at Andrews Air Force Base, Kerry said he had hoped to meet the returning Americans in Switzerland. “They were highly motivated to get it done”, said one USA official who was closely involved, because President Hassan Rouhani wanted money flowing into Iran, and more oil flowing out, before a critical election late next month.