Iran clinches nuclear deal
Historic agreement hailed by world powers but Israel slates ‘surrender’
IRAN and six major world powers have finally reached a nuclear deal, capping more than a decade of negotiations with an agreement that could transform the Middle East.
The EU hailed the deal as a “sign of hope for the entire world”, while Israel called it an “historic surrender”.
Under the deal, sanctions imposed by the US, EU and UN will be lifted in return for Iran agreeing long-term curbs on a nuclear programme that the West has suspected was aimed at creating a nuclear bomb.
The agreement is a major political victory for both US President Barack Obama and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, a Glasgow-educated pragmatist elected two years ago on a vow to reduce the diplomatic isolation of a country of 77 million people.
However, both leaders face scepticism from powerful hardliners at home after decades of enmity between nations that referred to each other as “the Great Satan” and a member of the “Axis of Evil”.
Mr Rouhani was quick to present the deal as a step on the road towards a wider goal of international cooperation, tweeting: “With this unnecessary crisis resolved, new horizons emerge with a focus on shared challenges.”
For Mr Obama, the diplomacy with Iran, begun in secret more than two years ago, ranks alongside his normalisation of ties with Cuba as landmarks in a legacy of reaching out to enemies that tormented his predecessors for decades.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal “a bad mistake of historic proportions”.
He said: “Iran will get a jackpot, a cash bonanza of hundreds of billions of dollars, which will enable it to continue to pursue its aggression and terror. Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely called the deal a “historic surrender” and said Israel would “act with all means to try and stop the agreement being ratified”, a clear threat to try to use its influence to block it in the Republican-controlled US Congress.
Congress has 60 days for a review, though if it rejects the deal, Mr Obama can use his veto.
The final round of talks in Vienna involved nearly three weeks of intense negotiation between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
It was something that would until recently have been unthinkable for two countries that have been bitter enemies since 1979, when Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
Mr Zarif, who was educated in the US and has developed a warm rapport with Mr Kerry, said: “I believe this is an historic moment. Now we are starting a new chapter of hope. Let’s build on that.”
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who acted as co-ordinator for the powers, said: “It is a decision that can open the way to a new chapter in international relations and show diplomacy, co-ordination, co-operation can overcome decades of tensions and confrontations.
“I think this is a sign of hope for the entire world.”