Iran denounces new U.S. sanctions on ballistic missile program

Trevithick’s release was not part of the prisoner swap, but USA officials did “indicate to Foreign Minister [Javad] Zarif that it’d be important for them to try to resolve some of the other cases of Americans detained in the context of this “deal”, a senior administration official told CNN”.

The Washington Post also reported Rezaian’s release, citing Iranian news agencies.

The United States imposed sanctions on 11 companies and individuals for supplying Iran’s ballistic missile program in a move delayed by over two weeks so as not to endanger this weekend’s release of US prisoners, sources familiar with the matter 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.

Salehi had said earlier that Amano’s visit would be only a formality and he was not scheduled to visit any facilities while on his one-day visit to Tehran.

Obama said the USA and its allies will be “steadfast” in confronting Iran over actions to destabilize the region, and its threats to Israel, which opposed the nuclear deal.

Rezaian, Hekmati and Abedini arrived Sunday in Germany and will be reunited with their families soon, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Twitter.

Obama said the nuclear deal will make the world more secure as “Iran will not get its hands on a nuclear bomb”.

The nuclear deal saw an end to years of painful economic sanctions on Iran but Washington on Sunday announced new financial measures against Tehran’s ballistic missile program.

The president pointed out that a priority will be given to countries that continued to trade with Iran despite the economic sanctions. The sanctions are not comparable to the economy-wide sanctions just lifted as a result of Iran’s nuclear agreement with the USA and European powers.

“The prisoner exchange, Iran’s dutiful implementation of its nuclear obligations, and the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions all herald a new era of US-Iran relations”, Kayvon Afshari, council spokesman, said in an email on Sunday.

Those sanctions came in response to Iranian ballistic-missile tests in October and November that United Nations experts determined were in violation of a 2010 UN Security Council resolution banning Iran from launches capable of delivering nuclear weapons.