Pictured are United States President Barack Obama and Washington Post Journalist Jason Razaian (wearing eyeglasses)

CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio- Economic U.S. sanctions have been lifted in Iran per the Iran Nuclear Deal as Iran released four American hostages, namely Washington Post Journalist Jason Rezaian, Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, former marine Amir Hekmati, and Robert Levinson, who was missing the longest, and for  seven years.

President Barack Obama signed executive orders on Saturday to relieve Iran of the controversial sanctions, and after he received confirmation from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that commitments made in July to reach nuclear accord had been met.

The president said that compliance by Iran on the issue represents "a fundamental shift in circumstances with respect to Iran's nuclear program."

Formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the international Nuclear Deal, which was reached in July between Iran and six leading world powers, including the United States, is one of the most comprehensive measures reached in several decades.

It follows a change in Iranian leadership since 2013 when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ousted longtime president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Israel's Atomic Energy Commission, which advises the Israeli government, endorsed the deal, though Israel is not among the six leading world powers affiliated with the nuclear initiative, which in addition to the United States, include Britain, China, France, Russia, and Germany.

Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposed the deal and invited U.S. Jews to support him on the matter, met at the White House last November, the first time the powerful pair had talked face-to-face in nearly a year.

The  deal is designed to lift all crippling sanctions against Iran, and places a variable freeze on sensitive nuclear materials for at least a decade. It also prevents the middle eastern country from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, led by the United States, hope the compromise will ultimately end a twelve-year crisis over Iran's suspicious nuclear work.

Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel since 2009, and who won reelection to the religious state last March, spoke to a joint session of Congress on March 3, 2015 and said then that the deal is too lenient, and lacks adequate safeguards. He said that Iran cannot be trusted and the prospect of a nuclear bomb relative to the Middle Eastern country is not inevitable.

Netanyahu denied then that his speech was hinged on political posturing, and said that he meant no disrespect of America's first Black president.

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