An agreement between Iran and the United States on the exchange of prisoners

Sunday January 17 2016 09:12


Alsumaria News / Baghdad

Iran released four prisoners Americans, one of whom is a correspondent for the Washington Post, Jason Arzaiaan, just before the announcement of the lifting of sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program.

The Arzaiaan, aged 39, was accused last year of spying.

Iran said, that a prisoner exchange had taken place between them and the United States, Washington confirmed that it had granted amnesty to seven Iranian prisoners.

Four Americans and to be flown to Switzerland, and from there to a US military base in Germany.

A US official, said Iran pledged to help in the search for Robert Avnson, a client of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) disappeared in Iran in 2007, according to news agency Associated Press.

The United States will remove the names of 14 Iranian list of Interpol.

The news came after the release of that expectation Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif cancellation of international sanctions imposed on his country.

It is expected that the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms that Iran's nuclear activities have fallen under the Convention, in order to focus on the peaceful uses of nuclear program.

In the case of the lifting of sanctions to release frozen billions of dollars it is expected, as well as the resumption of the sale of Iranian oil in the world markets.

The spirit of optimism in the Iranian media and the expectations of the improved economic situation in the country, while the media reflect the radical disappointment of "restrictions on the nuclear program," according to the agreement.

The sanctions imposed on Iran cost more than $ 160 billion in oil revenues since 2012, and a freeze on $ 100 billion of its assets.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/news/157152/اتفاق-بين-إيران-والولايات-المتحدة-على-تب/ar

Three freed American prisoners leave Iran as Rouhani hails nuclear deal
Reuters By Lesley Wroughton and Parisa Hafezi



By Lesley Wroughton and Parisa Hafezi
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WASHINGTON/ANKARA (Reuters) - Three Iranian-Americans left Tehran on Sunday under a prisoner swap following the lifting of sanctions on Iran that is likely to thaw ties further with the United States as Tehran emerges from years of international isolation.


Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the nuclear deal, sealed with world powers last year and paving the way for Saturday's lifting of most U.S., European, and U.N. sanctions, can be used as a model to resolve regional issues.

While the deal brings Iran back into the international fold, Tehran finds itself embroiled in sectarian conflicts in the Middle East and at odds with regional Sunni heavyweight Saudi Arabia, which views the U.S.-Iran thaw with deep suspicion.

"The nuclear deal can be used as a model for resolving regional problems ... we want to have close ties with our neighbors. Saudi Arabia is the source of problems in our relations," Rouhani told a news conference after earlier hailing the deal as a "golden page" in Iran's history.

Despite those regional tensions, 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.




A U.S. official said a Swiss plane had left carrying Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post's Tehran bureau chief, Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Idaho and Amir Hekmati, a former Marine from Flint, Michigan, as well as some family members.



One more Iranian-American released under the same swap, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, was not aboard the aircraft. A fifth prisoner, American student Matthew Trevithick, was released separately on Saturday, a U.S. official said.



"We can confirm that our detained U.S. citizens have been released and that those who wished to depart Iran have left," a senior U.S. administration official said.



Several Iranian-Americans held in U.S. prisons after being charged or convicted for sanctions violations have also been released, their lawyers told Reuters on Sunday.

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.




Speaking to parliament earlier on Sunday, Rouhani, a pragmatist elected in 2013 on promises to end Iran's years of sanctions and isolation, said he looked forward to an economic future less dependent on oil exports.

These are nevertheless likely to jump now that the United States, European Union and U.N. have scrapped the crippling sanctions in return for Tehran complying with the deal to curb its nuclear ambitions.

But Rouhani noted bitter opposition to the lifting of economic curbs from arch foe Israel, some members of the U.S. Congress and what he called "warmongers" in the region - an apparent reference to some of Iran's Gulf Arab adversaries.

Presenting the draft budget for the next Iranian fiscal year, which begins in March, Rouhani told parliament the deal was a "turning point" for the economy of Iran, a major oil producer which has been virtually shut out of international markets for the past five years.

He later said he expected 5 percent economic growth in the next Iranian fiscal year beginning in March and assured foreign investors of political and economic stability.




"The nuclear negotiations which succeeded by the guidance of the Supreme Leader and support of our nation, were truly a golden page in Iran's history," he said.

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.

CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT FOR ROUHANI

In Tehran, ordinary Iranians were cautious about what the future holds after the lifting of sanctions. Many have lived under sanctions or wartime austerity for so long that they have no concrete expectations about what the future might hold.

America's thaw with Iran is viewed with deep suspicion by U.S. Republicans as well as allies of Washington in the Middle East, including Israel and Saudi Arabia. U.S.-Iranian suspicion still remains deeply entrenched. Rouhani said that Iran and the U.S. would not fully restore economic ties.




Iran's Gulf Arab adversaries were silent on news of the nuclear deal's implementation, in what is perhaps a sign of unease at the rapprochement.

Israel's opposition was evident in a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night, which said that even after signing the nuclear deal Iran had not yet "abandoned its aspirations to acquire nuclear weapons".

Rouhani took a swipe at its critics. "Everybody is happy except the Zionists, the warmongers who are fuelling sectarian war among the Islamic nation, and the hardliners in the U.S. congress," he said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency ruled on Saturday that Iran had abided by last year's agreement with six world powers to curtail its nuclear program, triggering the end of sanctions.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano will travel to Tehran on Sunday to meet Rouhani and the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, the IAEA said on Saturday.



Minutes after the IAEA's ruling, the United States formally lifted banking, steel, shipping and other sanctions on Iran. The EU likewise ended all nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions against the country. Most U.N. sanctions also automatically ended.

MORE MONEY, PRESTIGE FOR IRAN

The end of sanctions means more money and prestige for Shi'ite 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.

It is also a crowning achievement for Rouhani, a pragmatic cleric who had pledged to reduce Iran's international isolation.

Iran denies its nuclear program was aimed at obtaining an atomic bomb. Washington maintains separate, less comprehensive sanctions on Iran over its missile program.

Britain welcomed the deal's implementation, as did France which said it would keep a close eye out to ensure that the deal is strictly respected. Japan plans to lift most of its sanctions against Iran, including a halt to fresh investments in Iranian oil and gas projects, "within a few days", a Foreign Ministry official said.

The European Commission said it would undertake a first "technical assessment mission" in February to explore energy ties with Iran. The EU executive is particularly keen to develop Iranian energy supplies as an alternative to Russia, whose powerful role as supplier of around a third of the EU's oil and gas has divided the bloc.

(Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Sam Wilkin in Dubai, Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo, Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Yeganeh Torbati and Joel Schectman in Washington and Barbara Lewis in Brussels; Writing by Yara Bayoumy, Editing by William Maclean and Dominic Evans)

http://news.yahoo.com/rouhani-hails-golden-page-irans-history-sanctions-lifted-084039167.html