Iran denounces United States ‘propaganda’ over missile program

The US Department of the Treasury says it has imposed new sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile program.

The prisoner exchange between the United States and Iran won praise from some Iranian American organizations on Sunday, even as the US imposed new sanctions on those who supply Iran’s ballistic missile system.

The seven Iranians released from American prison were either convicted or accused of purposely violating US sanctions against Tehran.

“As previously announced, the Islamic Republic of Iran… responds with determination to such propaganda by accelerating its legal ballistic missile program and boosting defense capabilities”, he added, saying that as a defensive precaution, the missiles posed no threat to other nations.

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

About the recent release of five US prisoners, who were according to him “unjustly detained by Iran”, the president noted that he had promised their families to bring them home.

“This is a good day because once again we are seeing what’s possible through strong American diplomacy”, Obama said.

This is a clean bill of health certifying that all nuclear activities in Iran are being used for peaceful purposes, and Amano said last year that this could take “years and years”. Nicholas Burns, a former American diplomat and a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, explains what the prisoner swap and sanctions mean for the U.S.-Iranian relationship going forward.

In his first comments since the agreement was implemented, Khamenei stressed in a letter to President Hassan Rouhani the need to “guard against deceit and violations of arrogant states particularly the United States”.

“Iran has undertaken significant steps that many people doubted would ever come to pass”, clearing the way for sanctions to end, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Vienna late Saturday after Iran’s compliance with the agreement was certified.

“We have seen the results”, he said. However, neighboring countries’ leaders are wary of Iran’s new freedom.

The restrictions aim to increase the time Iran would need to make enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon from several months to a year.