Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday hailed the lifting of the sanctions on his country, claiming that only the “Zionists” and “warmongers” in the Middle East are opposed to the nuclear deal between his country and the six Western powers.
Speaking in an address to parliament and quoted by The Telegraph, Rouhani hailed the deal as a "turning point" for the economy of Iran, a major oil producer which has been virtually shut out of international markets for the past five years.
"The nuclear negotiations which succeeded by the guidance of the Supreme Leader and support of our nation, were truly a golden page in Iran's history," he said, according to The Telegraph.
"The nuclear deal is an opportunity that we should use to develop the country, improve the welfare of the nation, and create stability and security in the region," Rouhani added.
He then took a shot at critics of the deal, including Republicans in the United States as well as allies of Washington in the Middle East such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israel's
"Everybody is happy except the Zionists, the warmongers who are fuelling sectarian war among the Islamic nation, and the hardliners in the U.S. congress," he charged, according to The Telegraph.
Rouhani’s comments came hours after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Iran has fulfilled its initial obligations under the terms of the nuclear deal reached with world powers last July, making possible the lifting of sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Tens of billions of dollars' worth of Iranian assets will now be unfrozen and global companies that have been barred from doing business there will be able to exploit the Iranian market.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu subsequently warned against the implementation of the nuclear deal, saying Iran is still seeking to achieve nuclear military capabilities.
"Even after signing the nuclear deal, Iran has not relinquished its ambition to obtain nuclear weapons, and continues to act to destabilize the Middle East and spread terror throughout the world while violating its international commitments," a statement from Netanyahu's office read.
He stressed that Israel would "follow the implementation of the deal and warn of any violation."
The sanctions on Iran are being lifted despite a December 2 report from the IAEA which concluded that Iran made a "coordinated" effort to develop nuclear weapons in the past, although the efforts apparently ended at an early stage.
The UN watchdog also recently released a report which determined that Iran had violated the terms of its nuclear deal with the West by increasing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 460.2 kilograms.
Earlier it was also revealed that Iran had stopped dismantling its centrifuges at the Natanz and Fordow uranium enrichment plants, breaching the nuclear deal that calls for the dismantling.