Kerry spoke to Iran about Americans missing in Baghdad

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif both suggested that the new relationship helped to quickly resolve the incident involving two US Navy ships that sailed into Iranian waters.

Washington unveiled the new missile-linked sanctions against Iran on Sunday – nearly immediately after separate worldwide sanctions related to Tehran’s alleged nuclear activities had been scrapped.

Under the deal, Iran admitted to cap its nuclear activities in return to lifting sanctions from the country.

And then there is the issue of the “swap” of five American hostages for seven Iranian criminals held in USA prisons and the removal of 14 other Iranian criminal and terrorists from the INTERPOL wanted list. Member should also be aware that United States secondary sanctions continue to apply to non-US persons who conduct business with Iranian individuals or entities who remain on the SDN list. We are spending a fraction of what our neighbours spend on defence, so what’s all this fuss about? Iran emerged from years of being considered a pariah state at the weekend after the United States, European Union and United Nations lifted sanctions linked to its nuclear programme under an worldwide deal which involved Germany. “Iran is pushing in the region as if there were no nuclear agreement, and they don’t seem anxious that they will jeopardize it. We should do the same”.

Rouhani wrote to Khamenei on Monday to provide an update after the United Nations atomic watchdog declared that Iran had met conditions stipulated in the nuclear deal.

At the same time, few Americans understand that Iran keeps its nuclear infrastructure under the nuclear deal and will be allowed to expand it. And they spiked further when, after a mob attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest, Saudi Arabia and several of its allies severed diplomatic and some commercial ties with Iran.

Most Americans are wondering what they have achieved in the wake of the widely celebrated Iran nuclear deal since apparently it’s Iran that is reaping all the benefits.

Following the board of governors meeting and in response to a Press TV question concerning future technical cooperation between Iran and the agency, Amano said, “In the past, because of the UN Security Council resolutions, it was not possible to undertake cooperation in certain areas and the areas were limited”. The agreement needs to be recognised for what it is, however – a limited deal, focused on only one aspect of Iran’s concerning behaviour – rather than what we might wish it to be.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hailed the nuclear deal as a “golden page” in Iran’s history and said the agreement could be used as a model to resolve other regional issues. Zarif also added that there were no negotiations on Iran’s defensive capabilities.

Iran can expect an abrupt shift in relations with the United States to a more aggressive posture under a Republican president, a reversal of the warming trend nurtured by Democratic President Barack Obama.

“I would say this”, Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush told the Council on Foreign Relations in NY yesterday. The next USA secretary of state is unlikely to have the same amount of experience and rapport with his or her Iranian counterpart. Iranians receive debit cards that resemble those from around the world, minus any of the global payment processors’ logos. This year is bound to have its share of surprises and grandstanding from a president who seems more enamored by regimes like Iran than America. But ordinary Iranians are still waiting to see how their daily lives will improve and how fast Iranian companies will gain access to financial markets worldwide.