Iran slams US text on implementation of nuclear deal

Tehran (AFP) — Iran denounced Friday as "one sided" a text released by the United States summarising the implementation of the nuclear deal Tehran struck with world powers.

"The White House statement is a unilateral and one-sided interpretation of the unofficial agreements between Iran and P5+1" major powers, foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said.

"By no means it is a criterion to evaluate or judge how the Geneva deal will be implemented," she added in statements carried by the official IRNA news agency.

In November, Iran agreed at talks in the Swiss city to roll back parts of its nuclear programme and halt further advances in exchange for the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets and limited relief from crippling sanctions.

Implementation of the six-month deal struck with the P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany, is slated to begin on Monday.

On Thursday the White House released a summary of "technical understandings" for implementation, which includes a timetable for inspecting Iranian nuclear facilities by the UN nuclear watchdog.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts are to arrive in Iran Saturday. They are due to be deployed at nuclear sites identified in the November agreement to ensure Tehran complies with its part of the deal, Iranian officials have said.

The text released by the White House also contains a payment schedule for nearly $7 billion (5.2 billion euros) in blocked Iranian foreign exchange holdings, a modest easing of sanctions in return for a freeze on some parts of the Iranian nuclear programme.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the full text was made available to a restricted group of lawmakers and congressional aides.

He said the IAEA wants to keep certain aspects of the deal confidential, Carney said.

Washington released the text after US officials were forced to deny claims that there was a secret side deal accompanying the November deal.

Opponents of the deal, including Israel, said it gave up too much to Iran in return for too limited commitments to slow its nuclear activity.

And some in Congress want to slap new sanctions on Iran.