Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday thanked the Revolutionary Guards for briefly detaining US sailors last week, but condemned the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran as an action that damaged the country. He did not elaborate.
The United States responded by announcing it would end its sanctions on Iran, freeing up $150 billion in frozen assets.
On Sunday, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 11 companies and individuals for helping to supply Iran's ballistic missile program.
Several Iranian-Americans held in U.S. prisons after being charged or convicted for sanctions violations have also been released, their lawyers told the news agency Reuters on Sunday.
"This is a good day, because once again we're seeing what's possible with strong American diplomacy". Moreover, the United States has only suspended its nuclear-related sanctions; it hasn't terminated them.
S anctions against Iran's nuclear programme were officially lifted on Saturday after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) determined that Iran had fulfilled its obligations under an agreement reached in July 2015.
The new measures also came after the lifting of far more comprehensive nuclear sanctions. "America sells tens of billions of dollars of weaponry each year to countries in the region", Ansari said, adding: "These weapons are used in war crimes against Palestinian, Lebanese and most recently Yemeni citizens".
"We remain steadfast in opposing Iran's destabilizing behavior elsewhere" he said.
The biggest change arising out of this development and one that will have worldwide implications is that Iran will now be able to sell its oil on world markets again, and its banks will be able to connect to the global system.
Tehran-Caracas ties are excellent, he said, noting that practical of JCPOA will open new chapters in bilateral ties and that Venezuela has always been alongside Iran. In addition, Iran released a fifth American, 30-year-old student Matthew Trevithick, in an apparently linked gesture.
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