US Imposes Sanctions on Iranians over Ballistic Test

Now, those sailors have been released – as well as five more Americans that had been imprisoned – the USA sanctions on Iran have been eliminated and an global agency has certified that Iran is complying with its part of the nuclear deal.

Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said Monday that Iran will respond by boosting efforts in its legal ballistic missile program and promoting its defense capabilities.

Certification by the International Atomic Energy Agency will allow Iran to immediately recoup some $100 billion in assets frozen overseas and see huge benefits from new oil, trade and financial opportunities that will come after Western sanctions against Iran are lifted.

The Treasury Department said Sunday that it was imposing the penalties against 11 firms and individuals based in the United Arab Emirates that had helped provide secret materials to Iran to develop their ballistic missile program, against a United Nations Security Council resolution.

He also said Saturday marked a “milestone” in making sure Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon.

They say it was the economic sanctions, many of which are now being lifted as part of the deal, that hit the 80 million who live in Iran the hardest.

The P5+1 group, namely the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany reached the comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran on 14 July, 2015.

“I decided that a strong, confident America could advance our national security by engaging directly with the Iranian government.” he said.

“This is a good day”, Obama said in a statement from the White House.

The new sanctions were announced shortly after a plane carrying Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and two other American citizens, freed in a prisoner exchange, arrived in Switzerland.

He said differences with Iran remained, and the United States would “remain steadfast in opposing Iran’s destabilising behaviour elsewhere” – such as its missile tests.

The prisoner exchange and nuclear agreement hold promise for ending decades-long hostility between Iran and the U.S., Shakeri said.

Marco Rubio: “Governments are taking Americans hostage, because they believe they can gain concessions from this government under Barack Obama”, he said in Iowa.

The incident is a huge turnaround from just a few days earlier, when US-Iran relations seemed to be at a high point.