Vienna/Washington. 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.
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.
Tens
of billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian assets will now be unfrozen and global
companies that have been barred from doing business there will be able to
exploit a market hungry for everything from automobiles to airplane parts.
The
UN nuclear watchdog ruled on Saturday that Iran had abided by an agreement last
year with six world powers to curtail its nuclear program, 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.
The
end of sanctions means more money and prestige for Shiite Muslim Iran as it
becomes deeply embroiled in the sectarian conflicts of the Middle East, notably
in the Syrian civil war where its allies are facing Sunni Muslim rebels.
America’s
thaw with Iran is viewed with deep suspicion by US Republicans as well as
American allies in the Middle East, including Israel and Saudi Arabia. US-Iranian
suspicion still remains deeply entrenched.
Washington
maintains separate, less comprehensive sanctions on Iran over its missile
program. For its part, Iran detained 10 US Navy sailors on two boats in the
Gulf a week ago, although they were released the next day.
Dramatic
prisoner deal
In
an unusual move, President Barack Obama pardoned three Iranian-Americans
charged for violating sanctions against Iran, a lawyer for one of the men said,
while prosecutors moved to drop charges against four Iranians outside the
United States.
Iran
agreed to free five Americans including Rezaian and Saeed Abedini, an
Iranian-American Christian pastor sentenced to eight years in prison in 2013 on
charges of undermining Iran’s national security.
But
a US official said four of the Americans had not yet left Iran due to ongoing
logistical issues. The fifth prisoner, Matthew Trevithick, has left the country
after 40 days in prison. Trevithick, a student and journalist, had traveled and
worked in conflict-torn nations including Syria, Mali and Afghanistan.
The
prisoner deal was the culmination of months of diplomatic contacts, secret
talks and legal maneuvering which came close to falling apart because of a
threat by Washington in December to impose fresh sanctions on Iran for recent
ballistic missile tests.
The
detente with Iran is opposed by all of the Republican candidates vying to
succeed Obama as president in an election in November.
Republican
front-runner Donald Trump said at a campaign event that he was happy Americans
were being freed, “but I will tell you it’s a disgrace that they were there for
so long.”
Ted
Cruz, a conservative senator from Texas and one of the leading Republicans,
tweeted in support of Abedini’s release: “Praise God! Surely bad parts of
Obama’s latest deal, but prayers of thanksgiving that Pastor Saeed is coming
home.”
Democratic
presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton took credit for helping to start the
sanctions pressure on Iran during her 2009-2013 tenure as Obama’s secretary of
state.
“These
are important steps that make the United States, our allies, and the entire
world safer. I congratulate President Obama and his team, and I’m proud of the
role I played to get this process started,” she said in a statement.
Clinton
also urged new sanctions on Tehran over its ballistic missile testing program.
Iran’s
return to an already glutted oil market is one of the factors contributing to a
global rout in oil prices, which fell below $30 a barrel this week for the
first time in 12 years.
Tehran
says it could boost exports by 500,000 barrels per day within weeks.
The
end of sanctions marks a crowning achievement for Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani, a pragmatic cleric elected in 2013 in a landslide on a promise to
reduce Iran’s international isolation.
The
economic measures, mostly imposed in the last five years, had cut off the
country of 80 million people from the global financial system, slashed Iran’s
exports and imposed severe economic hardship on ordinary Iranians.
Rouhani
was granted the authority to negotiate the deal by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, an arch-conservative in power since 1989.
Iran
denies its nuclear program was aimed at obtaining an atomic bomb.
Rouhani
congratulated the Iranian nation on Saturday after the news that sanctions were
to be lifted.
“Thank
God for this blessing and bow to the greatness of the patient nation of Iran. Congrats
on this glorious victory,” Rouhani tweeted in English.
Iranian
Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has argued, including in a New York Times op-ed
column last week, that Iran wants to help the global fight against Sunni Muslim
militants like Islamic State and al Qaeda.
“It’s
now time for all – especially Muslim nations – to join hands and rid the world
of violent extremism. Iran is ready,” Zarif tweeted on Saturday.
Reuters
– Jakarta Globe
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