Importance of Lifting the Nuclear-Based Sanctions on Iran

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Phyllis Bennis says lifting of sanctions will be significant for the Iranian people and will mean a reintegration of Iran into the world economy - January 20, 2016

SHARMINI PERIES, EXEC. PRODUCER, TRNN: Welcome to the Real News Network. I'm Sharmini Peries coming to you from Baltimore.

Iran dismantled two-thirds of its nuclear centrifuges, which was a prerequisite for lifting of economic sanctions against Iran. Sanctions were lifted on Saturday, January 17, and it was marked by a prisoner exchange and more sanctions. Less than 24 hours after lifting the sanctions against Iran, the Obama administration announced Sunday that it was imposing new sanctions on Iran for violating the United Nations resolutions against ballistic missile tests.

Here to discuss all of this with us is Phyllis Bennis. Phyllis is a fellow directing the New Internationalism Project at IPS, and author of Understanding the U.S.-Iran Crisis: A Primer. Thank you so much for joining us, Phyllis.

PHYLLIS BENNIS: Good to be with you, Sharmini.

PERIES: Phyllis, this was a long-awaited day for the Iranians, and a lot of the peace and disarmament movement. What is the significance of lifting of these sanctions?

BENNIS: Well, this was a very important component of the sanctions, based--the nuclear-based sanctions that were at the root of the nuclear deal that was signed off six months ago. There was an agreement that when the IAEA, the UN's watchdog nuclear agency, had agreed that Iran had implemented all that it was required to do, that the international nuclear-based sanctions would be released. And that is, indeed, what happened on this past Saturday.

I think that it's very important, because up until now it's been an agreement in principle, but there has not yet been any, any sense of it being felt by the people of Iran, for instance, who were suffering greatly under the economic sanctions. So this really means a shift, a new beginning, the potential reintegration of Iran's economy into at least part of the global economy. That's going to have some interesting impact on the oil situation, given the very low price of oil right now.

But the most important part of it is that the victory of diplomacy over war that the original Iran nuclear agreement represented is now making possible a bunch of other things. It made possible the release of four U.S. prisoners that were being held in Iran, and the separate release of a fifth. The release of seven Iranians who were held in U.S. prisons or were facing prison time for supposedly violating sanctions regulations. The lifting of Interpol warrants against 14 other Iranians who the U.S. had been trying to go after all around the world.

So this is a very significant linking of humanitarian and human rights issues with the earlier diplomatic move. We then have the IAEA certifying that yes, indeed, Iran has done everything required to reduce its capacity to enrich uranium and to, to destroy, essentially, its one heavy water reactor that could produce plutonium. And the IAEA said they've done everything they're supposed to do, now we can lift the sanctions. And indeed, the sanctions have now been lifted. So this is a whole set of developments coming out of the Iran nuclear agreement that on its face was really quite narrow, but many of us hoped would be broadened, just as we're now seeing.

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