Iran releases Americans detainees via a prisoner swap, United States slaps fresh sanctions afterwards

After a lifting of many international sanctions on Iran by the United states, Tehran released the five people of dual nationality under a prisoner swap. The tensions between the United States and Iran were all time last year high due to Tehran’s nuclear program. President Barak Obama promised to end the isolation of the country when it signed the historic nuclear deal.

Obama said that the deal has destroyed every path through which Tehran could have created a nuclear bomb. In order to follow the rules of United Nations, the US also slapped fresh sanctions on Iran. The new regulations will now ban more than 11 people and corporations from supplying material to the ballistic missile program of country.

These fresh sanctions were immediately imposed after the United States managed to finalize a deal to release five prisoners with American nationality. Last October, Iran went ahead with the precision guided ballistic missile test without obeying UN ban. Obama termed the release of prisoners as a result of ‘strong American diplomacy.’

Hassan Rouhani, Iranian President was positive about the nuclear deal and called it a ‘golden page’ in the history of Iran. He further added that such diplomatic solutions can be obtained for other regional problems as well. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran, the relations between the Washington and Tehran have been nothing but hostile.

The Washington Post’s Tehran Bureau Chief Jason Rezaian is one of the five released prisoners. His arrest was criticized worldwide as a crackdown on free speech by an autocratic regime. It also includes Idaho pastor Saeed Abedini. In return, the United States released some Iranians who were held in the prisons for sanctions violations.

The prisoner swap is a sign of improving relationship of Iran and the United States after a lot of exchange of harsh words during the nuclear deal negotiations.