India is now free to resume normal trading ties with Iran that were disrupted by US and EU sanctions related to Tehran’s nuclear program that were lifted on Saturday.
India will also be able to release payments its state-owned refineries owed to Tehran for crude oil purchases that were held up because of international sanctions, around $6.5 billion, Hindustantimes wrote.
The sanctions were lifted after the International Atomic Energy Agency certified on Saturday – Implementation Day – that Iran had completed its part of the agreement with western powers.
Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the agreement was called, Iran has shipped out of country 25,000 pounds of enriched uranium, cutting its stockpile by 98%.
It has removed two-thirds of its centrifuges, and filled the core Arak Heavy Water Research Reactor with concrete, eliminating its potential source of weapons-grade plutonium.
And, Iran has allowed IAEA inspectors, who will for the first time be equipped with modern safeguard technologies, unprecedented access to its nuclear facilities and supply chain.
The US and Iran also announced on Saturday a swap of prisoners under which Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian headed home to freedom after 18 months in jail.
