US President Barack Obama warned on Saturday it will take time for Iran to rejoin the global economy, as the country’s leadership and citizens express unease that a sanctions windfall has been slow to materialise.
“It will take time for Iran to reintegrate into the global economy, but Iran is already beginning to see the benefit of this deal,” Obama said at a meeting of allied countries that brokered a nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.
The international community lifted a raft of sanctions on Iran early this year in exchange for the country curbing its controversial nuclear programme.
But months on, much of Tehran’s holdings abroad
remain frozen, and US and European businesses are reluctant to do business with Iran for fear of getting tangled in a thicket of US regulations.
A host of non-nuclear sanctions related to terrorism sponsorship, ballistic missile programs and political crackdowns remain in place and are unlikely to be removed any time soon.