Obama defends Iran pact, imposes new sanctions on Tehran

A senior administration official told NBC News that “our detained US citizens have been released and that those who wished to depart Iran have left”, but did not specify whether that included all three.

“Iran has now fulfilled key commitments under the nuclear deal and perhaps most important of all we have achieved this historic progress through diplomacy, without resorting to another war in the Middle East”, Obama said.

Obama later gave a statement on the new sanctions – and on Saturday’s exchange of prisoners between the two countries – from the White House Sunday morning. The President outlined several paths Iran had to take for sanctions to be lifted, which destabilized the country’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon and gave inspectors greater access to investigating facilities. “Today will prove that we can solve important problems through diplomacy”, he said.

Amano arrived in Tehran on Sunday as he prepares the introduction of measures giving his agency greater inspection powers in order to ensure any nuclear materials in Iran will only be used for peaceful purposes. The Iranian president also said the deal was a “turning point” for Iran’s economy, which was severely weakened by having been shut out of worldwide markets for the last five years. US-IRAN SWAP PRISONERS Four Americans and seven Iranians got tickets to freedom in a prisoner swap playing out alongside the kickstart of the lifting of sanctions.

Brett McGurk, a special US presidential envoy tweeted a photo of Jason Rezaian after the American journalist landed in Geneva following his release by Iran. “The Iranian government should begin taking steps immediately to improve its press freedom record by releasing all journalists imprisoned in relation to their work”.

Iran conducted a ballistic missile test in October, which the United Nations called a breach of a resolution prohibiting the Islamic Republic from developing missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads.

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

The new sanctions are mostly aimed at individuals and some small companies accused of shipping crucial technologies to Iran, including carbon fiber and missile parts that can survive re-entry forces.