Deal brings Iran in from the cold
IRAN’s president said on Friday that a framework for a nuclear deal was just the first step toward building a new relationship with the world, after Iranians greeted the announcement of the accord with celebrations in the streets.
US President Barack Obama also hailed what he called a “historic understanding,” although diplomats cautioned that hard work lies ahead to strike a final deal. That work will include efforts by Obama to sell an eventual accord to critics at home — and to Israel, which denounced the interim agreement and pressed for more safeguards in coming negotiations.
The tentative agreement, struck on Thursday after talks between Iran and six world powers in Lausanne, Switzerland, clears the way for a settlement to allay Western fears that Iran could build an atomic bomb, with economic sanctions on Tehran being lifted in return.
It marks the most significant step towards rapprochement between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Iranian revolution and could potentially end decades of international isolation, with far-reaching consequences in the Middle East.
In a televised speech on Friday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate elected in a landslide two years ago on a promise to reduce isolation, said the nuclear talks were just the start of a broader policy of opening up.
“This is a first step towards productive interactions with the world,” he said. “Today is a day that will remain in the historic memory of the Iranian nation. Some think that we must either fight the world or surrender to world powers. We say it is neither of those, there is a third way. We can have co-operation with the world.”
The deal requires further difficult work before a June 30 deadline, and diplomats noted that it could still collapse at any time before then.
The agreement angered Washington’s closest regional ally, Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared it could lead to nuclear proliferation, war and even his country’s destruction. Israel believes Iran’s goal is to destroy it.
Netanyahu, who has the ear of Republicans who control both houses of the US Congress, said those negotiating with Iran must add a demand that Tehran specifically recognise Israel’s right to exist. This is unlikely to be taken up, even if the Obama administration is sympathetic to his concerns.
Asked whether its inclusion in the final deal would be appropriate, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters: “This is an agreement that is only about the nuclear issue. We have purposefully kept that separate from every other issue. This is an agreement that doesn’t deal with any other issues, nor should it. And that’s what we’re focused on.”
Asked about Netanyahu’s demand, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said he was aware of Israel’s ongoing concerns.
“We understand his position,” Schultz told reporters. “The president would never sign onto a deal that he felt was a threat to the state of Israel.”
In terms of Thursday’s agreement, Iran would cut back its stockpiles of enriched uranium that could be used to make a nuclear bomb and dismantle most of the centrifuges it could use to make more. —