Only ‘Zionists and warmongers’ against Iran’s new nuclear deal, says Rouhani

Presenting the draft budget for the next Iranian fiscal year, which begins in March, Rouhani told parliament the deal was a “turning point” for the economy of Iran, a major oil producer which has been virtually shut out of global markets for the past five years.

The US and Iranian presidents on Sunday hailed the implementation of Tehran’s nuclear deal as historic, but new American sanctions threatened fresh tensions.

Minutes later, U.S. formally lifted its sanctions on Iran’s banking, steel, and shipping industries with an executive order signed by President Barack Obama.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog on Saturday announced to lift sanctions clamped on Iran as it confirmed that Iran had curtailed its nuclear programme as agreed with world powers, paving the way for the nearly immediate lifting of crippling sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Israel denounced the development. “We are a messenger of peace, stability and security in the region and the world”.

The new sanctions were triggered by Iran conducting a test last October of a precision-guided ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, in violation a United Nations ban.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Mogherini jointly announced the landmark nuclear deal’s implementation.

The president repeatedly touted both as a victory for “strong American diplomacy”, saying that opening avenues of communication with Iran has led to unprecedented dialogue and cooperation.

“We will… remain vigilant in verifying Iran’s compliance”, he said.

He warned: “Iran has not abandoned its aspirations to acquire nuclear weapons and continues to destabilise the Middle East and spread terrorism throughout the world”.

Iran will immediately have more money to pay for imports, as the government gains access to tens of billions of dollars of its assets that were frozen overseas by the sanctions. But Tehran’s hopes of an instant windfall by its return to the global oil markets will likely be tempered due to the massive glut of oil, which dropped to $30 per barrel this week for the first time in a decade.

“Oil could stabilise as the lifting of Iran sanctions is surely now reflected in the low price and increasingly the focus will turn to the prospect of further cuts in non-Opec supply, particularly from the USA”, said Caroline Bain and Julian Jessop at the consultancy Capital Economics. Alongside Rezaian, three other prisoners of dual nationalities were also freed.

A retiree who lives across the street from a Hawaii beach said she heard two booms that were loud enough to shake her house on the night two Marine Corps helicopters crashed off the island of Oahu.

The state-owned IRAN daily wrote on its front-page, “The collapse of sanctions”.