Rouhani: Iran is getting nuclear deal benefit

Iranian president tells state media “oppressive chains” imposed by Western countries on economy are being dismantled.

iran
The deal requires Iran to neutralise its 20 percent enriched uranium stockpiles [EPA]

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said his country has started to benefit from a deal reached at nuclear talks with Western countries last November.

Rouhani made the comments on Wednesday in an interview with state television.

“Regarding the issue of the joint action plan or what is known as the Geneva agreement, our people witnessed that in the first step we were able to reach an agreement with the great powers while keeping the dignity and preserving the rights of our nation,” he said.

“Today we are seeing that many of these oppressive chains that were unrightfully bound on the economic movements of our society, are being torn apart.”

Under the terms of the interim deal reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council as well as Germany, Tehran agreed to limit parts of its nuclear programme, in exchange for the easing of some international sanctions.

US President Barack Obama said after the deal was signed that it “opened a new path toward a world that is more secure” and added that it was a “first step” that would achieve a lot. 

The deal requires Iran to neutralise its 20 percent enriched uranium stockpiles and to suspend its enrichment of all uranium above 5 percent.

Tehran also committed to halt its expansion of the nation’s uranium enrichment programme, halt the installation of additional centrifuges and ban the use of advanced centrifuges.

The breakthrough came after 10 years of negotiations that often ended in failure, with Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, vowing to press ahead with the nuclear programme, stoking fears the Islamic Republic was bent on developing a nuclear bomb.

But crippling sanctions imposed by the UN, the United States and the European Union continued to hurt the economy, making life hard for many ordinary Iranians.

Source: News Agencies