Carrot and stick: ‘Modest relief’ in store for Iran, says Obama

Six world powers and Iran agreed on 6-month plan that would curb Tehran’s most sensitive nuclear activities.

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said the US and other nations would give Iran ‘modest relief’ on economic sanctions as long as Iran lives up to its end of an agreement reached on Sunday to start implementing a nuclear deal. Six world powers and Iran agreed on a six-month plan that would curb Tehran’s most sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for some relief from oil and other economic sanctions while the parties negotiate a broader settlement on the scope of Iran’s nuclear program. Obama faces pressure from the U.S. Congress to pass new sanctions on Iran as an ‘insurance policy’. “Imposing additional sanctions now will only risk derailing our efforts to resolve this issue peacefully, and I will veto any legislation enacting new sanctions during the negotiation,” Obama said in the statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2014.