IRIA News

After days of uncertainty and intense negotiations involving seven nations, Iran and six world powers have finally concluded an agreement that will lift sanctions on Iran but place strict limits on its nuclear programme for more than a decade.

The comprehensive deal on Iran’s nuclear programme is being termed as a historic compromise, bringing to an end a 12-year standoff that had threatened to trigger a new conflict in the Middle East, and potentially marking the beginning of a new era in relations between Iran and the west.

The deal concluded in Vienna on Tuesday after prolonged talks between foreign ministers that binds Iran, the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China to a series of undertakings stretching over many years. Iran will dismantle much of its nuclear infrastructure, while the UN, US and EU will take down a wall of sanctions built around Iran over the past nine years. The accord follows 18 days of marathon diplomacy in Vienna — and heralds a summer of political blowback at home.

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who has been leading his country’s delegation in Vienna, described the agreement as a “win-win” solution but not perfect.

“I believe this is a historic moment,” he said. “We are reaching an agreement that is not perfect for anybody but is what we could accomplish. Today could have been the end of hope, but now we are starting a new chapter of hope.”

#IranDeal is not a ceiling but a solid foundation. We must now begin to build on it.

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) July 14, 2015

Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the agreement would “open the way to a new chapter in international relations” and show that diplomacy can overcome decades of tension. “This is a sign of hope for the entire world,” she said. Speaking from the White House Tuesday morning, Obama called the deal a victory for diplomacy that would prevent a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and avert a possible conflict with Iran.   “No deal means a greater chance of more war in the Middle East,” Obama said. He reaffirmed America’s commitment to Israel’s security and Gulf Arab states like Saudi Arabia, while adding that the U.S. is “open to engagement on the basis of mutual interests and mutual respect.” Obama also hinted at the possibility of a larger thaw in U.S.-Iranian relations. ”It is possible to change,” Obama told Iranians, urging them to take a “different path, one of tolerance, of peaceful resolution to conflict… This deal opens an opportunity to move in a new direction. We should seize it.”   “This is the good deal that we have sought,” Kerry said in a statement from Vienna.  

Agreement is a step away from specter of conflict, towards possibility of peace. This is the good deal we have sought pic.twitter.com/JY9YSZrPQs — John Kerry (@JohnKerry) July 14, 2015

The historic accord, reached by Secretary of State John Kerry and his international counterparts in Vienna on Tuesday after 18 days of intense negotiations, now faces review from a hostile Republican-led Congress, opposition from every GOP presidential candidate, from Israel’s government and from Sunni Arab monarchs.

Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, described the agreement as among the most complex and consequential of the nuclear age: “The deal is a major nuclear nonproliferation breakthrough that promises to prevent the emergence of another nuclear-armed state and head off a nuclear arms race in the world’s most volatile region.”

Some of the conditions of the agreement are:

• Iran will reduce its enrichment capacity by two-thirds. It will stop using its underground facility at Fordow for enriching uranium.
• Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium will be reduced to 300kg, a 96% reduction. It will achieve this reduction either by diluting it or shipping it out of the country.
• The core of the heavy water reactor in Arak will be removed, and it will be redesigned in such a way that it will not produce significant amounts of plutonium.
• Iran will allow UN inspectors to enter sites, including military sites, when the inspectors have grounds to believe undeclared nuclear activity is being carried out there. It can object but a multinational commission can override any objections by majority vote. After that Iran will have three days to comply. Inspectors will only come from countries with diplomatic relations with Iran, so no Americans.
• Once the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has verified that Iran has taken steps to shrink its programme, UN, US and EU sanctions will be lifted.
• Restrictions on trade in conventional weapons will last another five years, and eight years in the case of ballistic missile technology.
• If there are allegations that Iran has not met its obligations, a joint commission will seek to resolve the dispute for 30 days. If that effort fails it would be referred to the UN security council, which would have to vote to continue sanctions relief. A veto by a permanent member would mean that sanctions are reimposed. The whole process would take 65 days.

According to a 159-page document posted online by FarsNews, a U.N. resolution lifting sanctions will also express the Security Council’s “desire to build a new relationship with Iran.” The text says also that Iran has vowed that “under no circumstances” will it ever “seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.” And it describes a joint commission composed of its seven parties to monitor the deal’s implementation.