Deal reached on key points of Iran N- pact
Final accord by June 30 Iran to slash centrifuges
Lausanne, April 2: Iran and world powers said they had reached agreement on Thursday on “key parameters” of a potentially historic deal aimed at preventing Tehran from building the bomb.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the drafting of an agreement would begin immediately, after the talks in Lausanne.
The text of a binding agreement “is to finish by June 30th” Mr Rouhani added in a tweet sent minutes before a joint statement between Iran and the P5+ 1 group of leading nations was to be made in Lausanne. After eight days of talks, US secretary of state John Kerry tweeted it was a “big day” and that the global powers and Iran “now have parameters to resolve major issues on nuclear program. Back to work soon on a final deal”.
His comments were echoed by European powers. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini hailed “good news” at the talks and said that Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium would be “reduced”.
The German foreign ministry said an “understanding had just been reached on key points” of an accord.
Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is negotiating in Lausanne, also said on Twitter: “Found solutions”.
The Iranian media said the deal would see Iran slash the number of its centrifuges to 6,000 from 19,000, including 1,000 at the key nuclear site of Fordo.
The aim before this round of talks began was to agree the main contours of a deal to be finalised by June 30 that reduces in scale Iran’s nuclear programme in return for relief from painful sanctions. The powers hope that this will make it virtually impossible for Iran to make nuclear weapons under the guise of its civilian programme and end a 12- year- old crisis.
Global powers want Iran to scale down its nuclear programme to extend the “breakout” time needed to assemble enough nuclear material to make a bomb, which Iran has always denied seeking.
Kerry calls it a ‘ big day’ and adds: ‘ Back to work soon on a final deal...’
Lausanne/ Washington, April 2: The US and EU will lift all nuclearrelated sanctions on Iran when the UN atomic watchdog has verified that it has stuck to a ground- breaking deal slashing its suspect nuclear programme, EU and Iranian negotiators said on Thursday.
“The European Union will terminate the implementation of all nuclear- related economic and financial sanctions and the United States will cease the application of all nuclear- related economic and financial sanctions simultaneously with the IAEAverified implementation by Iran of its key nuclear commitments,” the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said.
US President Barack Obama said after months diplomacy “we have achieved the framework for a deal with Iran. “It is a good deal,” said Mr Obama, adding that “if completed,” the Iran nuclear deal will make the US, its allies and the world safer.
The deal shuts down Iran’s path to a bomb using enriched uranium, he said in a statement from the White House, adding that Iran will not develop weapons- grade plutonium.
International monitors will have access to Iran’s nuclear programme for observation. “If Iran cheats, the world will know it,” Mr Obama said, adding that Iran will face more inspections than any other country in the world. “This will be a long- term deal, with a strict limit for a decade. Limits on stockpiles will last 15 years. Inspections will be for 20 and more years, if not permanently,” Mr Obama said.
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius on Thursday described the agreement with Iran over its disputed nuclear programme as “positive,” but stressed there was “work to do” before a final deal in June. “This agreement is a step that contains positive and undoubtable progress but there is still work to do,” Mr Fabius told French television after Iran and world powers said they had clinched agreement on “key parameters” of a potentially historic nuclear deal.