Dubai ruler demands end of Iran sanctions

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum urged the international community to lift economic sanctions against Iran. “Iran is our neighbor and we don’t want any problems,” Sheikh Mohammed, who is also vice president and prime minister of the UAE, said in a televised interview with BBC News. Sheikh Mohammed said that wider relief from sanctions would mean “everyone will benefit”. On November 24, Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) sealed a six-month Joint Plan of Action in Geneva to lay the groundwork for the full resolution of the West’s decade-old dispute with Iran over its nuclear energy program. In exchange for Tehran’s confidence-building bid to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the Sextet of world powers agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against Tehran and continue talks with the country to settle all problems between the two sides. Iran and the six world powers agreed on Sunday to start implementing the Geneva interim nuclear deal on January 20, senior Iranian negotiators announced, adding that the two sides have agreed to fulfill their undertakings simultaneously and on a single day.