Deal to lift sanctions on Iran ‘a new chapter’ for world ties
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IRAN has “opened a new chapter” in its ties with the world, President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday, hours after sanctions were lifted under its historic nuclear deal with global powers.
The United Nation’s atomic watchdog late on Saturday confirmed that Iran had complied with its obligations under last summer’s accord, and the United States and European Union announced they were lifting the sanctions that have for years crippled the country’s economy.
Western governments hailed the announcement as a milestone, though some critics, including Israel, alleged that Tehran was still seeking to develop a nuclear weapon.
The announcement followed news of a prisoner swap between Iran and the US that included the release of Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, in another sign of thawing relations between the longtime foes.
Rouhani, a moderate whose 2013 election victory helped launch a huge diplomatic effort toward the deal struck on July 14 in Vienna, said implementation of the agreement did not harm any country.
“We Iranians have reached out to the world ... have opened a new chapter in the relations of Iran with the world,” Rouhani said.
Iran is “not a threat to any government or nation.” The agreement, he said, “is not a loss for any country.”
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, representing the six world powers, announced the lifting of “multilateral and national” sanctions in Vienna, saying the deal showed that intense diplomacy could resolve even “the most difficult issues.”
The US lifted a raft of sanctions, with Secretary of State John Kerry saying: “The United States, our friends and allies in the Middle East, and the entire world are safer because the threat of the nuclear weapon has been reduced.”
The lifting of the sanctions will allow Iran to resume oil exports, long the lifeblood of its economy. The deal was nailed down after two years of negotiations following Rouhani’s election. It draws a line under a standoff dating back to 2002 marked by failed diplomatic initiatives, ever-tighter sanctions, defiant nuclear expansion by Iran and threats of military action.
Also, the nuclear talks put Iran and the US on the road to better relations, more than three decades after the Islamic revolution that toppled the Washington-backed shah.
Iran has always denied wanting nuclear weapons, saying its activities are for peaceful purposes, including power generation and medical research.
Israel, widely assumed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed state and Iran’s arch-foe, has repeatedly slammed the agreement.
Its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Iran “has not relinquished its ambition to obtain nuclear weapons, and continues to act to destabilise the Middle East and spread terror throughout the world.”
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