VIENNA – The UN nuclear agency certified Saturday that Iran has met all of its commitments under last summer’s landmark nuclear deal, crowning years of U.S.-led efforts to crimp Iran’s ability to make atomic weapons.
For Iran, the move lifts western economic sanctions that have been in place for years, unlocking access to $100 billion in frozen assets and unleashing new opportunities for its battered economy.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the top diplomats of Iran and the European Union hailed the accord, reached after years of setbacks and a full decade after the start of international diplomacy aimed at reducing the possibility that Tehran could turn its nuclear programs to make atomic arms.
And Kerry linked the trust built between Iran and the United States over the past two years of talks to the breakthrough release by Iran Saturday of four Americans who also hold Iranian nationality.
“Today marks the day of a safer world,” he declared. “This evening, we are really reminded once again of diplomacy’s power to tackle significant challenges.”
“Thanks to years of hard work and committed dialogue,” he added, “we have made vital breakthroughs to both the nuclear negotiations and a separate long-term negotiation,” that led to the freeing of the imprisoned Americans.
EU Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini in a statement also read in Farsi by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif, said the accord “demonstrates that with political will, perseverance, and through multilateral diplomacy, we can solve the most difficult issues and find practical solutions that are effectively implemented.
“This is an encouraging and strong message that the international community must keep in mind in our efforts to make the world a safer place,” she said, declaring: “The multinational economic and financial sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program are lifted.”
In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama signed executive orders lifting economic sanctions on Iran, while Kerry, who led the last years of negotiations with Zarif that culminated in the July 14 deal, confirmed that the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency could verify that “Iran has fully implemented its required commitments.”
“Relations between Iran and the IAEA now enter a new phase,” said IAEA director general Yukiya Amano. “It is an important day for the international community.”
Progress also came Saturday on another area of Iran-U.S. tensions: U.S. and Iranian officials announced that Iran was releasing four detained Iranian-Americans in exchange for seven Iranians held or charged in the United States.
U.S. officials said the four – Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, pastor Saeed Abedini and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari – were to be flown from Iran to Switzerland on a Swiss plane and then brought to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, for medical treatment.
In return, the U.S. will either pardon or drop charges against seven Iranians – six of them dual citizens – accused or convicted of violating U.S. sanctions. The U.S. will also drop Interpol “red notices” – essentially arrest warrants – on a handful of Iranian fugitives it has sought.
Rezaian is a dual Iran-U.S. citizen convicted of espionage by Iran in a closed-door trial in 2015. The Post and the U.S. government have denied the accusations, as has Rezaian.
The publisher of The Washington Post said he “couldn’t be happier” Rezaian had been released from Iran’s Evin Prison on Saturday. Publisher Frederick J. Ryan Jr. said more information would be available once he can confirm Rezaian has safely left Iran. Rezaian had been held more than 543 days on espionage and related charges.
U.S. officials said a fifth American detained in Iran, a student, has been released in a move unrelated to the prisoner swap between the two countries. They said the student, identified as Matthew Trevithick, was released independently of the exchange and already was on his way home.
The landmark Iran nuclear agreement, struck after decades of hostility, defused the likelihood of U.S. or Israeli military action against Iran, something Zarif alluded to.
“Our region has been freed from shadow of an unnecessary conflict that could have caused concerns for the region,” he said. “Today is also a good day for the world. Today will prove that we can solve important problems through diplomacy.”
But Israel warned in a statement put out by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office that Iran has not given up its nuclear ambitions. It urged world powers to respond harshly to any violations of the deal by Iran.
“Without a strong response to every violation, Iran will think it can continue to develop a nuclear weapon, destabilize the region and spread terror. Israel will continue to monitor and warn of Iran’s negative actions and will do everything necessary to protect its security and defend itself,” the statement said.
Iran insists all of its nuclear activities are peaceful. But under the July 14 deal, it agreed to crimp programs which could be used to make nuclear weapons in return for an end to sanctions. The agreement puts Iran’s various nuclear activities under IAEA watch for up to 15 years, with an option to re-impose sanctions should Tehran break its commitments.
With news of the deal’s implementation breaking long after midnight in Tehran, there was no repeat of the boisterous street celebrations that met agreement in July on the accord. But social media networking sites were abuzz.
“Hello to life without sanctions,” said one message. Another praised both Zarif and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, whose taking office in 2013 led to the start of serious negotiations after years of essential deadlock. “Thank you Rouhani,” one said. “Thank you Zarif.”
GOP hopefuls say U.S. looks weak
WASHINGTON – The leading Republican presidential contenders accused President Barack Obama on Saturday of catering to a dangerous autocracy by swapping Iranian prisoners for Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and other Americans imprisoned in Iran.
“This should have been done three, four years ago, when the deal was struck,” Republican front-runner Donald Trump said. “I’m happy they’re coming back, but I will tell you, it’s a disgrace that they’ve been there for so long. It’s a disgrace, remember that. A total disgrace.”
Rezaian, 39, Saeed Abedini, 35, of Boise, Idaho, Amir Hekmati, 32, of Flint, Michigan, and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari were freed Saturday.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, running second to Trump in major polls, thanked God for the release but added a caveat about terms of the arrangement.
“We don’t know the details of the deal that is bringing them home and it may well be that there are some very problematic aspects to this deal,” Cruz said.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, said the deal to grant clemency to seven Iranians charged in the United States in exchange for the Americans’ release opens the door for other regimes to try to use captured Americans as bargaining chips.
Rubio has previously expressed support for Rezaian by wearing a “Free Jason” pin, but like other Republican critics of the Obama administration, Rubio maintains that the jailed Americans should have been freed without conditions.
“They shouldn’t have been in jail,” Rubio said. “This is hostage-taking.”
The prisoner exchange came just as the United States and other world powers lifted many international sanctions on Iran as part of the deal struck last year to curb Iran’s nuclear program. The Obama administration has previously maintained that while Secretary of State John F. Kerry and others raised the Rezaian case at their frequent meetings and negotiations with Iranian officials, prisoner releases would not be part of the nuclear deal.
The releases follow Obama administration prisoner-exchange deals to win the release of an American from Cuba and an American soldier captured in Afghanistan by the Taliban.
Republicans, including some now running for president, have said both those deals reveal a fundamental weakness and naivete in Obama’s dealings with autocrats and terrorists. They have also roundly criticized the Iran nuclear deal as a risky gamble that endangers U.S. ally Israel. In all cases, the Obama administration counters that the deals are triumphs of diplomacy and statecraft, and were made with clear-eyed knowledge of the trade-offs.
“You are incentivizing people to take Americans hostage and prisoner even if they’ve done nothing wrong,” Rubio said. “Governments are taking American hostages because they believe they can gain concessions from this government under Barack Obama. It’s created an incentive for more people to do this in the future.”
Rubio also repeated his pledge to scrap the international nuclear deal on his “first day in office.”
Presumptive Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton was secretary of state in Obama’s first term, service she touts as preparation for real-world crises that none of her challengers, Democratic or Republican, possess. She participated in the initial outreach to Iran that led to the nuclear discussions, but the deal was struck after she left office. She supports the agreement but regularly says she would seek to strengthen it and would enforce it rigorously as president. She has said it is in the Iranian “nature” to try to cheat.
Clinton’s surging competitor, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, was the first 2016 candidate to issue a statement on the Americans’ release.
“This good news shows that diplomacy can work even in this volatile region of the world,” Sanders said.
Clinton’s campaign did not immediately react to the news.
Other Republicans also welcomed the releases while criticizing the terms. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush suggested he would have threatened Iran.
“I would say ... if you do not release them, that there’s going to be military action, that that’s an act of provocation, an act of war,” Bush said in Amherst, New Hampshire, according to CNN. “What I would do in January is recognize that Iran is not an ally. That’s how the Obama administration views this,” Bush said.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he wants to know more about “the other side of the deal.”
“We shouldn’t have to swap prisoners, these folks were taken illegally in violation of international law and they should have been released without condition, but you know, the Iranians have treated this president with disrespect for years and he continues to take it,” Christie said. “I would not take it as president.”
