Iran nuclear agreement not universally welcomed

On Thursday, Iran and the Five Permanent Members of the UN and Germany, the so-called P5+1, reached a framework agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme. Details are now to be worked out, and the deadline of a final deal is set for the end of June.

After 18 months of harrowing negotiations, US President Barack Obama was finally able to announce that there has been a major breakthrough.

Calling the nuclear deal framework historic, he said that if implemented it will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"In return for Iran’s actions, the international community has agreed to provide Iran with relief from certain sanctions — our own sanctions, and sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council."

But he warned that if Iran violates the deal, "sanctions can be snapped back into place".

Officials in Geneva did not give many specific technical details on the agreement.

But US Secretary of State John Kerry was optimistic. He thinks that the deal will slow down Iran’s capability to build a bomb.

"It is a deal that will increase Iran’s break-out time, which was confirmed publicly today to be two to three months. That is the time that it would take Iran to speed up its enrichment in order to produce enough material to produce one potential nuclear weapon. That will be expanded now, under this deal, to one year."

Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, says that current nuclear facilities will not be forced to shut down.

"The proud people of Iran would never accept that," he said. "Our facilities will continue, we will continue enriching, we will continue research and development, our heavy water reactor will be modernised and we will continue the Fordo facility."

Tehran disclosed information about this Fordo facility in 2011 to the International Atomic Energy Agency. It is one of about 20 known nuclear facilities in Iran.

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