Nuclear Deal Eliminated Confrontation

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the July 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers has removed a major source of confrontation in the Middle East. Kerry made the statement at the Mediterranean Dialogues Conference in the Italian capital Rome on Friday, according to the website of the US Department of State. The top US diplomat said following the deal, "new economic opportunities have been created for the Iranian people and they are now witnessing some 4% growth". The deal's implementation started in January, when the UN, the US and European Union stopped their anti-Iran sanctions in return for temporary curbs on Iran's nuclear work. Kerry said although the deal has not been designed to solve all problems the US has with Iran, including what he called Iran's behavior in Yemen or with Lebanon's Hezbollah, but "confronting any of those other issues with an Iran with a nuclear weapon" would be much more difficult for the US. Iran says its nuclear program is only for civilian applications and has no military aspects. This has been confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.