Erdan: Lifting of Iran sanctions ushers in 'new and dangerous era'

World powers relieved sanctions on Iran after international monitors concluded the first phase of their landmark nuclear deal complete, marking the formal commencement of the accord.

By LAHAV HARKOV, MICHAEL WILNER
Updated: JANUARY 16, 2016 21:45
Gilad Erdan speaks at JPost Diplomatic Conference (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Gilad Erdan speaks at JPost Diplomatic Conference
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said that the implementation of the he Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) marks "a new and dangerous time in which Iran is free of most economic sanctions, without having to stop its nuclear plan and without having to give explanations about its military activity, as it had to in the past."
Erdan pointed out Iran continues supplying arms to Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist groups, intervening in Gulf States' internal affairs and violating UN Security Council decisions about developing ballistic missiles.
"This is a difficult day for all the countries in the region, which hoped that Iran will not be able to obtain nuclear weapons and stop its negative intervention in the area," he said. "Israel will continue following and demand from the international community not to ignore Iranian violations, in order to ensure that they won't be surprised like in the case of North Korea."
World powers relieved sanctions on Iran after international monitors concluded the first phase of their landmark nuclear deal complete, marking the formal commencement of the accord, or "Implementation Day," foreign ministers declared in Vienna on Saturday.
Implementation of  JCPOA– the formal name for the nuclear deal reached between world powers and Iran last summer– marks Tehran's reentry into the global marketplace after decades cast in pariah status. The Islamic state will now have full and immediate access to tens of billions of dollars in unfrozen assets, a surge in business opportunities, and will be reconnected to the Society for the Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, or SWIFT, the world's largest financial transactions network.
Iran's greatest relief will come from the end of secondary sanctions imposed in 2010, which penalized non-US entities conducting business in Iran by cutting them out of the US financial sector. Tehran will particularly benefit from relief on its transportation and energy sectors, including the end of restrictions on the movement of its oil revenue and on its ability to purchase new aircraft.


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