A day after lifting economic sanctions against Iran for meeting the terms of the nuclear agreement, the U.S. announced new, limited sanctions against several Iranian citizens and companies for helping Iran’s ballistic missile program. The new sanctions were announced shortly after a plane carrying Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and two other American citizens, freed in a prisoner exchange, arrived in Switzerland. On Saturday, the U.S. released or dropped charges against seven Iranians either convicted or accused of helping Iran avoid the longstanding sanctions in exchange for Iran’s release of five Americans. The exchange came after the United Nations nuclear agency confirmed that Iran had met the conditions of an agreement it signed last July after two years of negotiations to limit its nuclear activities. Under the agreement, Iran moved almost all of its nuclear fuel out of the country, destroyed and removed its nuclear equipment and gave international inspectors greater access to its nuclear facilities.
