US, EU lift sanctions as Iran meets nuclear obligations

As International Atomic Energy Agency certified that Iran has fulfilled its promises to world powers under a July 14 deal, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, “Today marks the day of a safer world. Iran has taken every step that it committed to take, dating back two full years.”. His statement came just hours after Tehran and Washington swapped long-held prisoners. 

Reacting to the developments, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, “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 landmark deal between Iran and world powers - the US, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany - was agreed last July. In a joint statement with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Vienna, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, representing the six world powers, said that as a result “multilateral and national economic and financial sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear programme are lifted”. The sanctions have cost Iran more than over USD 160 billion in oil revenue since 2012 alone. 

Once they are lifted, the country will be able to resume selling oil on international markets and using the global financial system for trade. In its report, IAEA said Iran has shipped 98 per cent of its fuel to Russia and dismantled more than 12,000 centrifuges so that they could not enrich uranium any further. Iran also poured cement into the core of a reactor designed to produce plutonium, it added.