Iran Sanctions Will Be Lifted Today, Says Foreign Minister

Foreign Minister Javad Zarif arrived in Vienna, headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. body expected to issue a report triggering the lifting of sanctions imposed by the United Nations, United States and European Union.

Kerry will meet in Vienna with Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, the State Department said Friday.

VIENNA (AP) – The latest developments as Iran and world powers prepare to implement a landmark deal reached a year ago to curb Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of worldwide sanctions (all times local).

Critics of the deal in the U.S. Congress and Israel worry that once the main restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program expire in 10 to 15 years, Tehran will be in a position to quickly develop an atomic weapon, if it wishes. As part of the agreement, some sanctions on Iran will be lifted and some $50 billion to over $100 billion in frozen assets will become accessible to Tehran.

“The Iranians … seem to have done all of those physical things required… but there are still some other requirements, much of it paperwork”, Robert Einhorn, former arms control adviser on the US Iran nuclear negotiating team, told Al-Monitor. Some sanctions have been in place since as long back as 1995. Iran has always insisted its nuclear programme was purely for peaceful purposes.

And many expect the IAEA’s will corroborate Iranian compliance.

Also under the deal, Iran must scale back its stockpile of low-enriched uranium – which it plans to do via a swap for non-enriched forms of uranium with Russian Federation, to remove concerns it could be put to developing nuclear bombs.

Commenting on the potential date for the implementation day, Mogherini said on Monday, “My expectations are that this day could come rather soon and that the implementation of the agreement is proceeding well”.

Still, the White House is ready to give Iran the all clear and implement the deal.

“They have almost completed their major nuclear steps, and that’s nothing to gloss over”, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said at a luncheon hosted by Bloomberg News Friday.

The prospect of Iran’s emergence from isolation could overturn the geo-political balance of the Middle East at a particularly volatile time.

“Almost all details are ironed out”, said another diplomatic source, based in the Austrian capital. “What is more important is that its extremely important day for diplomacy”.

Iranians have reported that there was a tense 40 minutes following the detention of the sailors and their transfer to the nearby Iranian island of Farsi.

Iran has taken a big step toward meeting the conditions of the nuclear deal, which is good news for the Iranians who are struggling to meet basic needs under sanctions.