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HomeUncategorizedNuclear sanctions lifted from Iran, President Rouhani welcomes move

Nuclear sanctions lifted from Iran, President Rouhani welcomes move

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Iran emerged from years of economic isolation on Saturday when world powers lifted crippling sanctions against the Islamic Republic in return for Tehran complying with a deal to curb its nuclear ambitions.

Rouhani In a dramatic move scheduled to coincide with the scrapping of the sanctions, Tehran also announced the release of five Americans including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian as part of a prisoner swap with the United States.

Together, the lifting of sanctions and the prisoner deal considerably reduce the hostility between Tehran and Washington that has shaped the Middle East since Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog ruled on Saturday that Iran had abided by an agreement last year with six world powers to curtail its nuclear programme, triggering the end of sanctions.

“Iran has carried out all measures required under the (July deal) to enable Implementation Day (of the deal) to occur,” the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.

Within minutes, the United States formally lifted banking, steel, shipping and other sanctions on Iran, a major oil producer which has been virtually shut out of international markets for the past five years.

The European Union also began the process of lifting sanctions and Iran’s transport minister said Tehran plans to buy 114 civil aircraft from European aircraft maker Airbus.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday hailed the lifting of international sanctions on his country following the entry into force of last July’s momentous nuclear deal with major powers. “We Iranians have reached out to the world in a sign of friendliness, and leaving behind the enmities, suspicions and plots, have opened a new chapter in the relations of Iran with the world,” the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

Iran took a huge step toward ending its international isolation on Saturday after the United Nation’s atomic watchdog confirmed Iran was carrying out measures agreed under the deal. “The implementation of the JCPOA is not a loss for any country,” Rouhani said, referring to the “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action”, the official name for Tehran’s nuclear agreement with the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia. “The friends of Iran are happy and its competitors need not worry, we are not a threat to any government or nation,” Rouhani said. “We are a messenger of peace, stability and security in the region and the world.”

However, America’s thaw with Iran is viewed with deep suspicion by US Republicans as well as allies of Washington in the Middle East, including Israel and Saudi Arabia. US-Iranian suspicion still remains deeply entrenched.

Israel’s opposition was evident in a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night. “Even after the signing of the nuclear agreement, Iran has not abandoned its aspirations to acquire nuclear weapons, and continues to act to destabilise the Middle East and spread terrorism throughout the world while violating its international commitments,” the statement said.

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