LAUSANNE: Iran and world powers agreed on Thursday on the framework of a potentially historic deal aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme after marathon talks in Switzerland.

It marks a major breakthrough in a 12-year standoff between Iran and the West, which has long feared Teh­ran wants to build a nuclear bomb.

US President Barack Obama welcomed the “historic understanding” with Iran but cautioned more work needed to be done.

After eight days of talks that sometimes went through the night, Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of punishing sanctions, said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

The main outlines agreed at the negotiations in the Swiss city of Lausanne now have to be finalised in a highly complex agreement by June 30.

US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed a “big day”, saying on Twitter that the global powers and Iran “now have parameters to resolve major issues on nuclear programme”. “Back to work soon on a final deal,” he said.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the drafting of a full agreement would begin immediately with the aim of completing it by the June 30 deadline.

Iranian media said the deal involved Iran slashing by two-thirds, to 6,000 from 19,000, the number of its centrifuges, which can make fuel for nuclear power but also the core of a nuclear bomb.

Ms Mogherini said the United States and the EU would lift all nuclear-related sanctions on Iran once the UN atomic agency has verified that Tehran has stuck to the ground-breaking deal.

In a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Moham­mad Javad Zarif, she also said the design of a new reactor would be changed so that no weapons-grade plutonium could be produced.

The so-called P5+1 group — the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia plus Germany — hope that the deal will make it virtually impossible for Iran to make nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian programme.—AFP

Anwar Iqbal adds from Washington: The White House said the plan of action reflected the significant progress that had been made in discussions between the P5+1, the European Union, and Iran.

Important implementation details are still subject to negotiation, and nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

Iran has agreed to reduce by approximately two-thirds its installed centrifuges. Iran will go from having about 19,000 installed today to 6,104 installed under the deal, with only 5,060 of them enriching uranium for 10 years. All 6,104 centrifuges will be IR-1s, Iran’s first-generation centrifuge.

Iran has agreed to not enrich uranium over 3.67pc for at least 15 years. It has agreed to reduce its current stockpile of about 10,000kg of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to 300kg of 3.67pc LEU for 15 years.

All excess centrifuges and enrichment infrastructure will be placed in IAEA-monitored storage and will be used only as replacements for operating centrifuges and equipment.

Under the deal, Iran has agreed to not build any new facilities for the purpose of enriching uranium for 15 years.

Iran’s breakout timeline — the time that it would take for the country to acquire enough fissile material for one weapon — is currently assessed to be two to three months. That timeline will be extended to at least one year, for a duration of at least ten years.

Iran will convert its facility at Fordow so that it is no longer used to enrich uranium. Almost two-thirds of Fordow’s centrifuges and infrastructure will be removed. The remaining centrifuges will not enrich uranium.

Iran will only enrich uranium at the Natanz facility, with only 5,060 IR-1 first-generation centrifuges for ten years.

Iran has agreed to only enrich uranium using its first generation centrifuges at Natanz for ten years, removing its more advanced centrifuges.

Iran will remove the 1,000 IR-2M centrifuges currently installed at Natanz and place them in IAEA-monitored storage for ten years.

The IAEA will have regular access to all of Iran’s nuclear facilities, including to Iran’s enrichment facility at Natanz and its former enrichment facility at Fordow, and including the use of the most up-to-date, modern monitoring technologies.

Inspectors will have access to the supply chain that supports Iran’s nuclear programme. The new transparency and inspections mechanisms will closely monitor materials and/or components to prevent diversion to a secret programme.

A dedicated procurement channel for Iran’s nuclear programme will be established to monitor and approve, on a case-by-case basis, the supply, sale or transfer to Iran of certain nuclear-related and dual-use materials and technology — an additional transparency measure.

Iran will receive sanctions relief, if it verifiably abides by its commitments.

The US and EU nuclear-related sanctions will be suspended after the IAEA has verified that Iran has taken all of its key nuclear-related steps. If at any time Iran fails to fulfil its commitments, these sanctions will snap back into place.

The architecture of US nuclear-related sanctions on Iran will be retained for much of the duration of the deal and allow for snap-back of sanctions in the event of significant non-performance.

All past UN Security Council resolutions on the Iran nuclear issue will be lifted simultaneous with the completion, by Iran, of nuclear-related actions addressing all key concerns (enrichment, Fordow, Arak, PMD, and transparency).

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2015

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