As sanctions are lifted, Iranian foes fear the worst

Netanyahu added that now that economic sanctions will be lifted from Iran, the country would increase its involvement with terrorism and aggressive behaviour in the region.

A Jewish-American group that lobbied for the Iran nuclear agreement said on Sunday the prisoner swap and Tehran’s release of captured U.S. sailors were positive signs for U.S.-Iranian relations but that strict verification remained paramount.

Unless there is an appropriate response to each Iranian violation of its deal with the six world powers “Iran will surmise that it can continue to develop nukes, destabilise the region and spread terror”, the prime minister’s office warned.

Rouhani, a moderate whose 2013 election victory helped launch a huge diplomatic effort toward the deal struck on July 14 in Vienna, said implementation of the agreement did not harm any country.

The Obama Administration is trying to play up the growing rapprochement with Iran, with hopes that the nuclear deal will lead to the resolution of more regional disputes.

Many Israeli critics of the deal argue that the 15-year timeline for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program isn’t strong enough.

As long as Western sanctions are non-existent or weak, “Iran will be able to violate the deal, not blatantly, but with cautious defiance, because the West will have lost much of its leverage”, Landau said.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano was also due in Tehran on Sunday for talks on the United Nations watchdog’s enhanced inspections to ensure Iran’s continued compliance with the deal.

Assi Dutan, a hummus restaurant owner in Tel Aviv, said it’s only a matter of time before Iran takes advantage of the opportunity to attack Israel, which Tehran has been planning for decades.

Rouhani also said the deal was a win for all negotiating parties and all factions inside Iran.

AJC and the Anti-Defamation League addressed Iran’s ongoing human rights abuses and expansionism in the Middle East, in part through proxies like Hezbollah, with the ADL calling for United States “pushback” on these policies.

They include slashing by two-thirds its uranium centrifuges, reducing its stockpile of uranium – enough before the deal for several bombs – and removing the core of the Arak reactor which could have given Iran weapons-grade plutonium.

Turkey has been bolstering its ties with Saudi Arabia in recent months, pledging to participate in a Riyadh-based Islamic alliance against terrorism, supporting Saudi operations in Yemen and deepening cooperation to aid Syrian rebels seeking to topple Mr. Assad. “A range of tough U.S. sanctions, which AJC supports, remains in effect; Iran’s non-nuclear activities, which are ongoing and destabilizing, are subject to continued – and likely escalating – sanctions”, a statement by AJC on Sunday read.

Until competing interests in Iraq and Syria started to complicate Ankara-Tehran relations, majority Sunni Turkey had been a steadfast, if uneasy, ally of its regional rival, majority Shia Iran.