Central bank of Iran (main building) in Tehran. Photo: Orijentolog.

Gholam Hossein Shafeyee, the head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, said on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic’s treaty with world powers in November has already persuaded foreign companies in Europe and the U.S. to seek deeper and wider economic relations with Tehran, according to semi-official state news agency FARS.

FARS said Shafeyee told senior officials at Sweden’s SEB Bank, that several trade delegations from different countries have announced their readiness to establish and boost ties with Iran. He said that the new Iranian administration, by adopting appropriate diplomacy, has prepared the ground for a bright future for the country’s foreign relations.

FARS said that Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, announced on Monday that Iran has begun the voluntary suspension of its 20-percent uranium enrichment in accordance with the Geneva deal. Also on Monday, the European Union and the U.S. announced the lifting of some sanctions against Tehran as the first part of their undertakings under the Geneva Deal.

Critics of the treaty, however, question whether it goes far enough to prevent Iran from quickly turning its nuclear capabilities and uranium enrichment centrifuges to create weapons. In the U.S. Congress, a faction led by Rep. Ed Royce is preparing a list of deeper sanctions that would be enacted the moment Iran breaks any elements of its agreement with the world powers.