|
 U.S. President Barack Obama hailed a step towards a "more hopeful
world" and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said it proved that
"constructive engagement works". But Israel pledged to do what it
could to halt what it called an "historic surrender".
The agreement will now be debated in the U.S. Congress, but Obama
said he would veto any measure to block it.
"This deal offers an opportunity to move in a new direction," Obama
said. "We should seize it."
Under the deal, sanctions imposed by the United States, European
Union and United Nations will be lifted in return for Iran agreeing
long-term curbs on a nuclear program that the West has suspected was
aimed at creating a nuclear bomb.
Iran will mothball for at least a decade the majority of its
centrifuges used to enrich uranium and sharply reduce its
low-enriched uranium stockpile.
The agreement is a political triumph for both Obama, who has long
promised to reach out to historic enemies, and Rouhani, a pragmatist
elected two years ago on a vow to reduce the isolation of his nation
of 80 million people.
Both face scepticism from powerful hardliners at home in nations
that referred to each other as "the Great Satan" and a member of the
"Axis of Evil".
 "Today is the end to acts of tyranny against our nation and the
start of cooperation with the world," Rouhani said in a televised
address. "This is a reciprocal deal. If they stick to it, we will.
The Iranian nation has always observed its promises and treaties."
Delighted Iranians danced in the streets of Tehran, whole motorists
sounded car horns and flashed victory signs in celebration after the
announcement a deal they hope will end years of sanctions and
isolation.
For Obama, the diplomacy with Iran, begun in secret more than two
years ago, ranks alongside his normalization of ties with Cuba as
landmarks in a legacy of reconciliation with foes that tormented his
predecessors for decades.
"History shows that America must lead not just with our might but
with our principles," he said in a televised address. "Today's
announcement marks one more chapter in our pursuit of a safer, more
helpful and more hopeful world."
REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION
Republicans lined up to denounce the deal. Presidential candidate
Lindsey Graham, a senator from South Carolina, called it a terrible
deal that would make matters worse. Senator Marco Rubio suggested he
would re-introduce sanctions if elected to the White House next
year.
The Republican-controlled Congress has 60 days to review the accord,
but if it votes to reject it Obama can use his veto, which can be
overridden only by two-thirds of lawmakers in both houses. That
means dozens of Obama's fellow Democrats would have to rebel against
one of their president's signature achievements to kill it, an
unlikely prospect. Leading Democratic presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton called the deal "an important step that puts the lid on
Iran's nuclear programs".
The Senate was not expected to vote on the deal before September.
While the main negotiations were between the United States and Iran,
the four other U.N. Security Council permanent members, Britain,
China, France and Russia, are also parties to the deal, as is
Germany.
Enmity between Iran and the United States has loomed over the Middle
East for decades.
Iran is the predominant Shi'ite Muslim power, hostile both to Israel
and to Washington's Sunni Muslim-ruled Arab friends, particularly
Saudi Arabia. Allies of Riyadh and Tehran have fought decades of
sectarian proxy wars in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
But there are also strong reasons for Washington and Tehran to
cooperate against common foes, above all Islamic State, the Sunni
Muslim militant group that has seized swathes of Syria and Iraq.
Washington has been bombing Islamic State from the air while Tehran
aids Iraqi militias fighting it on the ground.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told reporters that the
deal was about more than just the nuclear issue:
"The big prize here is that, as Iran comes out of the isolation of
the last decades and is much more engaged with Western countries,
Iranians hopefully begin to travel in larger numbers again, Western
companies are able to invest and trade with Iran, there is an
opportunity for an opening now."
"HISTORIC MISTAKE"
Still, Washington's friends in the region were furious, especially
Israel, whose prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has cultivated a
close relationship with Obama's Republican opponents in Congress.
"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 in the region and in the world," he said. "Iran is going
to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons."
His deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, denounced an "historic
surrender" and said Israel would "act with all means to try and stop
the agreement being ratified", a clear threat to use its influence
to try and block it in Congress.
In phone call with Netanyahu, Obama underscored the United States'
commitment to Israel's security, the White House said.
Some diplomats in Vienna said the strong Israeli response could
actually help, by making it easier for Rouhani to sell the agreement
back in Iran.
[to top of second column] |
The National Council of Resistance, the exile Iranian opposition
group that first exposed Iran's secret nuclear program, said the
deal "would neither block the mullahs' pathways to deception nor
their access to a nuclear bomb".
While Saudi Arabia did not denounce the deal publicly as Israel did,
its officials expressed doubt in private.
"We have learned as Iran's neighbors in the last 40 years that
goodwill only led us to harvest sour grapes," a Saudi official who
asked to remain anonymous told Reuters.
Nor were hardliners silent in Iran: “Celebrating too early can send
a bad signal to the enemy,” conservative lawmaker Alireza Zakani
said in parliament, according to Fars News agency. Iran's National
Security Council would review the accord, "and if they think it is
against our national interests, we will not have a deal".
It will probably be months before Iran receives the benefits from
the lifting of sanctions because of the need to verify the deal's
fulfillment. Once implementation is confirmed, Tehran will
immediately gain access to around $100 billion in frozen assets, and
can step up oil exports that have been slashed by almost two-thirds.
The deal finally emerged after nearly three weeks of intense
negotiation between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif - unthinkable for decades,
since Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in
1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
Hatred of the United States is still a central tenet of Iran's
ruling system, on display only last week at an annual protest day,
with crowds chanted "Death to Israel!" and "Death to America!".
But Iranians voted overwhelmingly for Rouhani in 2013 on a clear
promise to revive their crippled economy by ending Iran's isolation.
Hardline Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not block the
negotiations.
"NEW CHAPTER OF HOPE"
"Today could have been the end of hope on this issue, but now we are
starting a new chapter of hope," Zarif, who studied in the United
States and developed a warm rapport with Kerry, told a news
conference.
Kerry said: "This is the good deal we have sought."
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said:
"I think this is a sign of hope for the entire world."
Tehran has long denied seeking a nuclear weapon and has insisted on
the right to nuclear technology for peaceful means. Obama never
ruled out military force if negotiations failed, and said on Tuesday
that future presidents would still have that option if Iran quit the
agreement.
France said the deal would ensure Iran's "breakout time" - the time
it would need to build a bomb if it decided to break off the deal -
would be one year for the next decade. This has been a main goal of
Western negotiators, who wanted to ensure that if a deal collapsed
there would be enough time to act.
Obama said Iran had accepted a "snapback" mechanism, under which
sanctions would be reinstated if it violated the deal. A U.N.
weapons embargo is to remain in place for five years and a ban on
buying missile technology will remain for eight years.
Alongside the main deal, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency, announced an agreement with Iran
to resolve its own outstanding issues by the end of this year. The
main deal depends on the IAEA being able to inspect Iranian nuclear
sites and on Iran answering its questions about possible military
aims of previous research.
For Iran, the end of sanctions could bring a rapid economic boom by
lifting restrictions that have shrunk its economy by about 20
percent, according to U.S. estimates. The prospect of a deal has
already helped push down global oil prices because of the
possibility that Iranian supply could return to the market.
Oil prices tumbled more than a dollar on Tuesday after the deal was
reached. [O/R]
(Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin
Nouri and Jeff Mason; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Kevin
Liffey and Giles Elgood)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
