Kerry: Some Iran sanctions relief likely to go to terrorists

These came a day after sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program were lifted.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is rejecting Iranian criticism of Washington’s use of punitive sanctions, saying they are imposed when it’s appropriate.

In his State of the Union address last week, the president claimed his deal had succeeded in its goal to “prevent a nuclear-armed Iran” and that “Iran has rolled back its nuclear program”.

He said the nuclear sanctions that the USA called “crippling” were anything but, and that it better be careful about imposing new sanctions. They violate basic principles.

Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told a news conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the opposition delegation at the centre of fierce diplomatic dispute should not include members of three internationally recognised “terrorist groups”. A prevailing sense of anxiety was in the air in the Swiss ski resort of Davos as the World Economic Forum kicked off Wednesday with delegates fretting about the turbulence in financial markets, slowdown in China and plunging oil prices.

“It shows that the United States has an addiction which has been very hard for it to overcome”, Zarif said. At a hearing Wednesday morning before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, senators and a witness who have been skeptical of the nuclear deal pointed to Iran’s recent missile tests and capture of American sailors as examples of the deal’s failure and its effect of reducing American power in the region.

Zarif said Iran believed a ceasefire in Syria was required before a national unity government could be set up and elections based on a new constitution held.

“We stand by our sanctions”, Kerry said earlier.

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

Just last week in London, Kerry, standing next to Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, insisted that despite Washington’s outreach to Iran, the U.S.-Saudi alliance remains a “lynchpin” of U.S. efforts in the Middle East.

Together, the diplomatic achievements represent two years of painstaking diplomacy by Kerry, during which the United States and Iran have built a relationship that, while still fraught with mistrust, actually functions. “So you have a difference of views among various political actors, among various parts of the population”.

“If we catch them funding terrorism, they’re going to have a problem in the US Congress and other people, obviously”, he said. He travels to Davos fresh from the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal and the release of five Americans from Iranian custody.