5 things to know about Iran deal

President Barack Obama heralded the implementation of a nuclear deal and prisoner swap with Iran as a victory for diplomacy that would advance U.S. interests and potentially spark more cooperative relations between Tehran and the world. President Hassan Rouhani said today Iran should redouble efforts to attract foreign investment and liberalize its economy.

The nuclear deal drew a line under a standoff dating back to 2002 marked by failed diplomatic initiatives, ever-tighter sanctions, defiant nuclear expansion by Iran and threats of military action.

Rowhani said earlier Sunday that Iran had regained access to more than USD$ 100 billion (363.9 billion baht) in frozen assets.

Only last week he said Iranians should look forward to a “year of prosperity” after sanctions are lifted. But the people complaining the loudest about the terms of the deal that brought Rezaian and his countrymen home are the very same people who’d be howling the loudest had the US captives been left behind.

A fifth American, Matthew Trevithick, was also released by Iran, though his release was not part of the negotiated prisoner swap.

Sarah Hekmati, sister of Amir Hekmati, arrives at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, the day after former United States marine Amir Hekmati landed safely in Geneva and was transferred to Germany after being released from prison in Iran on Saturday. Iran’s annual imports, $10-65 billion each year through 2000-15, are expected to shrink dramatically, improving its balance of trade.

Greece’s biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum is due to meet top Iranian oil officials later this week to discuss crude oil imports from Iran, a company source told Reuters.

Rouhani said the deal has “opened new windows for engagement with the world”.

But Rouhani noted bitter opposition to the lifting of economic curbs from Israel, some members of the U.S. Congress and what he called “warmongers” in the region – an apparent reference to some of Iran’s Gulf Arab adversaries, not least Saudi Arabia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israeli would monitor the Iranian nuclear deal closely to ensure that Iran was not violating its commitments.

“Broadly, the lifting of Iran’s sanctions is I think good for India”, Mahtab Alam Rizvi, a senior researcher at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), said.

Under the exchange, Washington said it had granted clemency to seven Iranians, six of whom were dual US-Iranian citizens, and dropped charges against 14 others. The Iranians wanted to humiliate the Americans, and test their resolve over a couple of people who they probably don’t particularly want around anyway.

Under the nuclear deal, Iran agreed to implement and then ratify the IAEA’s Additional Protocol to its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. But the former Florida governor, a brother and son of former presidents, went on to blast the Obama administration for “tripping all over itself” to protect the nuclear deal. “We have gone to other countries, we have involved other people, there have been all kinds of clues that have come in and they have even followed up on”, Kerry said.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said he was “hopeful that this means Iran is going to begin behaving in a more civilized fashion”, the Washington Post reports.