LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- After marathon negotiations, the United States, Iran and five other world powers sealed a breakthrough agreement Thursday outlining limits on Iran's nuclear program to keep it from being able to produce atomic weapons.
The Islamic Republic of Iran was promised an end to years of crippling economic sanctions, but only if negotiators transform the plan into a comprehensive pact. They will work to do that over the next three months.
The U.S. and Iran, longtime adversaries who hashed out much of the agreement, each hailed the framework. Speaking at the White House, President Barack Obama called it a "good deal" that would address concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called it a "win-win outcome."
Those involved have spent 18 months in broader negotiations that were extended twice since an interim accord was reached shortly after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani entered office. That deal was the product of more than a year of secret negotiations between the Obama administration and Iran.
If implemented, the understandings reached Thursday would mark the first time in more than a decade of diplomatic efforts that Iran's nuclear efforts would be rolled back.
It commits Tehran to significant cuts in centrifuges, the machines that can enrich uranium gas to levels used in nuclear warheads. Of the nearly 20,000 centrifuges that Iran now has installed or running at its main enrichment site, the country would be allowed to operate just over 5,000.
In addition, much of Iran's enriched stockpiles would be neutralized. A planned reactor would be reconstructed so it would produce no weapons-grade plutonium. Monitoring and inspections by the U.N. nuclear agency would be enhanced.
America's negotiating partners in Europe strongly backed the agreement. President Francois Hollande of France, which had pushed the U.S. for a tougher stance, endorsed the accord while warning that "sanctions lifted can be re-established if the agreement is not applied."
Many of the nuclear limits in the agreement would be in place for a decade, while others would last 15 or 20 years. Sanctions related to Iran's nuclear programs would be suspended by the U.S., the United Nations and the European Union after the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Iran's nuclear compliance.
In a joint statement, European Union foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini and Zarif called the agreement a "decisive step."
Zarif then held a news conference, answering many questions in English, and Obama's statement was carried live and uncensored on Iranian state TV. He said that essentially all sanctions would be lifted after the final agreement is signed.
Still, all sides spoke with a sense of caution.
"We have taken a major step, but are still some way away from where we want to be," Zarif said.
He voiced hope that a final agreement might ease suspicion between the U.S. and Iran, which haven't had diplomatic relations since the 1979 overthrow of the shah and the subsequent U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.
Zarif said the agreement would show "our program is exclusively peaceful, has always been and always will remain exclusively peaceful."
But he also said it would not hinder the country's pursuit of atomic energy for civilian purposes.
"We will continue enriching," he said. "We will continue research and development."
Skeptics react
Opponents of the emerging accord, including Israel and Republican leaders in Congress, reacted with skepticism. They criticized the outline for failing to do enough to curb Iran's nuclear potential to produce nuclear weapons or to mandate intrusive enough inspections.
In a written statement, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said he plans to work with fellow senators to stop the proposal, which he called a "a list of dangerous U.S. concessions that will put Iran on the path to nuclear weapons."
"Iran remains the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism. Iranian aggression is destabilizing the Middle East. And Iran continues to hold multiple Americans hostage," Cotton said. "I will work with my colleagues in the Senate to protect America from this very dangerous proposal and to stop a nuclear arms race in the world's most volatile region."
Last month, Cotton wrote a letter to Iranian leaders that was signed by 46 other Republican senators, including Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas, warning the Iranians that unless Congress approved the plan, any deal could end when Obama leaves office in 2017.
In a statement Thursday, Boozman said now that details about the proposed Iran deal have been released, Congress should get to weigh in before it is approved.
"We are just now learning about this framework, and it is imperative that it be fully vetted. What little that has been made public reinforces the concern that the Obama administration gave up on efforts to dismantle Iran's nuclear program in hopes of merely containing it," he said.
House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that it would be "naive to suggest the Iranian regime will not continue to use its nuclear program, and any economic relief, to further destabilize the region."
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said his panel will vote this month on legislation giving Congress the right to vote on a final deal with Iran.
Obama had sharp words Thursday for members of Congress who have threatened to try to kill the agreement or approve new sanctions against Iran. Appearing in the Rose Garden, Obama said the issues at stake are "bigger than politics."
"These are matters of war and peace," he said, and if Congress kills the agreement "international unity will collapse, and the path to conflict will widen."
And the president disagreed with those who said the deal doesn't go far enough.
"This framework would cut off every pathway that Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon," he said Thursday. "This deal is not based on trust. It's based on unprecedented verification."
Secretary of State John Kerry, one of the lead negotiators on the deal, also lashed out Thursday at critics who have demanded that Iran halt all uranium enrichment and completely close a deeply buried underground facility that may be impervious to an air attack.
"Simply demanding that Iran capitulate makes a nice sound bite, but it is not a policy, it is not a realistic plan," Kerry said.
Netanyahu opposition
In addition to congressional detractors, many in the Middle East fear that a nuclear-armed Iran would spark an arms race that could spiral out of control in a region rife with sectarian rivalry, terrorist threats, and weak or failed states.
Obama said Thursday that he had spoken with Saudi Arabia's King Salman and that he and other Arab leaders would be invited to Camp David this spring to discuss security strategy. The Sunni majority Saudis have made veiled threats about creating their own nuclear program to counter Shia-led Iran.
The American leader also spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, perhaps the sharpest critic of the diplomacy with Iran.
Netanyahu said in Israel that he voiced his "strong opposition" to the deal in the phone call.
"A deal based on this framework would threaten the survival of Israel," he said.
The White House said Obama told Netanyahu that the agreement with Iran "in no way diminishes our concerns with respect to Iran's sponsorship of terrorism and threats towards Israel."
Obama also promised his national security team would look for ways to "strengthen our long-term security cooperation" with Israel's newly elected government.
Netanyahu considers a nuclear-armed Iran a threat to Israel's very existence, given Iranian leaders' calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, Iran's support for hostile militant groups across the region and its development of long-range ballistic missiles.
The framework deal includes a system of limits and inspections on Iranian nuclear facilities, but falls short of Israeli demands to dismantle the program. Netanyahu believes Iran cannot be trusted and that leaving certain facilities intact would allow the Iranians to reach the capability of building a bomb.
"Such a deal would not block Iran's path to the bomb. It would pave it," Netanyahu said.
Yuval Steinitz, his Cabinet minister who monitors the Iranian nuclear program, said Israel would continue to push to cancel or at least improve the deal as it is finalized ahead of a June 30 deadline.
Yoel Guzansky, a former Iran analyst in the Israeli prime minister's office and a research fellow at the INSS think tank in Tel Aviv, said Thursday's announcement was a game changer.
The deal starts a process "where Iran will stop being a pariah state," he said. "Israel will need to see how to inspect Iran on its own, and not rely on the international community."
A key factor, he said, would be how other Arab countries that share Israel's concerns about Iran will react. "Israel will have to cooperate and talk to them about the mutual fear about Iran," he said.
Information for this article was contributed by George Jahn, Matthew Lee, Julie Pace, Josef Federman, Bradley Klapper, Nedra Pickler, Alan Fram, Ian Deitch, Jim Heintz, Cara Anna, Jill Lawless, Nicole Winfield, Elaine Ganley and Nasser Karimi of The Associated Press; by Michael R. Gordon, David E. Sanger, Thomas Erdbrink and Julie Hirschfeld Davis of The New York Times; and by Sarah D. Wire of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 04/03/2015