Iran and six world powers agree outline for nuclear accord

World leaders hailed the proposed Iranian nuclear deal with US President Barack Obama describing it as a "historic understanding" with Iran, while critics made strong warnings about its consequences.

At the conclusion of eight days of negotiations in Switzerland, the European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif unveiled a preliminary framework that would be used to draft a final agreement by a deadline of June 30th.

The announcement included a level of detail that surprised observers given that the talks between Iran and the so-called P5+1 world powers, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, Britain, France, China and Russia - plus Germany missed a March 31st deadline for a broad outline of an agreement.

Under the proposed deal, Iran would reduce its capacity to enrich uranium, cutting the number of installed centrifuges by about two-thirds, in exchange for a phased reduction in international sanctions.

Stockpiles of low-enriched uranium will be reduced and unused centrifuges will be stored under watch by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which will regularly inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities.

US and EU sanctions would be lifted over time but would “snap back” into place should Iran fail to meet its obligations.

‘Good deal’

Describing the outline agreement as a “good deal,” Mr Obama likened the framework to the Cold War-era arms race deal, describing the US-led diplomatic solution as the best way to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. “It is our best option by far,” he said.

The deal “would cut off every pathway that Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon,” he said the US president.

Aspects of the deal, which has the potential to be the crowning foreign policy achievement of Mr Obama’s presidency, still have to be ironed out and parties called for caution before the final agreement.

“Nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed,” said Mr Obama.

An ebullient Zarif, eager to see severe sanctions lifted but Iran's nuclear programme for power generation purposes maintained, stressed that Iran will not shut down any facilities under the proposed deal. This is opposed by Israel and its Republican supporters in the US Congress, who want to see Tehran's programme totally dismantled.

“The proud people of Iran would never accept that,” said Zarif.

The deal would give international inspectors “unprecedented access” to Iran’s facilities, said Mr Obama, and the “most robust and intrusive inspections and transparency regime ever negotiated for a nuclear programme.”

“If Iran cheats, the world will know it,” he said.

Surveillance will continue long after the deal has expired in 2025 with monitoring of Iran’s centrifuge rotors continuing until 2035.

The president welcomed a “robust debate” on the issue but warned of the potential for conflict should the diplomatic negotiations fail. Critics of the talks with Iran raised concerns about the proposed deal.

Sanctions

Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner said that the framework represented an “alarming departure from the White House’s initial goals.” His immediate concern was that the deal would provide “near-term sanctions relief,” he said.

He called for the Republican-controlled Congress to be allowed to review the deal before any sanctions are lifted.

Vowing to fight the deal, Israeli leader Binjamin Netanyahu said that any agreement “must significantly roll back” Iran’s nuclear capabilities. His strategic affairs minister Yuval Steinitz went further: “The smiles in Lausanne are detached from wretched reality in which Iran refused to make concessions on the nuclear issue and continues to threaten Israel and all other countries in the Middle East.”