VIENNA -- World powers and Iran set the clock ticking Sunday on an accord placing limits on the Islamic Republic's nuclear work in return for access to oil and financial markets.
The formal adoption of the deal means that all sides will have to begin delivering on the pledges they made three months ago. For Iran, that requires mothballing thousands of centrifuges, eliminating 95 percent of its enriched-uranium stockpile and retrofitting a reactor. The U.S. and Europe will make preparations to lift sanctions, which will occur on "implementation day," once the Iranian measures are in place.
"Today marks an important milestone toward preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful going forward," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "I am confident in the extraordinary benefits to our national security and the peace and security of the world that come with the successful implementation" of the accord.
One of the first steps will be a statement of intention by China, Iran and the U.S. to work together modernizing Iran's heavy-water reactor at Arak so it can't produce plutonium that could be used in a nuclear weapon, according to U.S. officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the deal's implementation.
Obama said he had directed his administration to prepare for meeting U.S. commitments under the agreement. Secretary of State John Kerry will also start work on waivers of sanctions that were imposed by law and are related to the nuclear program, the State Department said.
All of the parties involved in the accord will meet today in Vienna to set up sub-groups required under the agreement to discuss technical issues, sanctions relief and how to manage Iran's commitments on restricting its nuclear program, the officials said.
More than two years of negotiations culminated in an agreement of more than 100 pages that was signed July 14 in Vienna. The accord survived fierce opposition in the U.S. Congress, where a Republican bid to scuttle the deal failed, and among hard-line members of Iran's parliament.
Twelve years after Iran was found concealing some nuclear activities, prompting concern it had weapons ambitions, the deal has been described as a victory of diplomacy over the potential use of force.
Sanctions against Iran probably will be lifted within the first three months of 2016, after the International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed the nation has curtailed its nuclear work, diplomats said last month. Once the restrictions are removed, relief is expected to fuel economic growth by lowering barriers to Iran's oil exports and ending the isolation of its banks.
Iran has said it will offer about 50 energy projects to investors, and it plans to boost output by about 2 million barrels a day once the deal is in place. The Persian Gulf nation, with the world's fourth-largest oil reserves, pumped 2.8 million barrels a day last month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Senior administration officials said Saturday they understand it's in Iran's best interest to work quickly, but they are only concerned that the work is done correctly. They insisted that no relief from the penalties will occur until the IAEA has verified Iran's compliance with the terms of the agreement. They said Iran's work will almost certainly take more than the two months Iran has projected.
The administration officials spoke on a conference call with reporters, but under the condition that they not be identified.
As part of the nuclear agreement, Obama on Sunday issued provisional waivers and a memorandum instructing U.S. agencies to lay the groundwork for relieving sanctions on Iran.
In Iran, Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told state TV: "On implementation, all should be watchful that Westerners, particularly Americans, to keep their promises."
Velayati said Iran expects that the United States and other Western countries that negotiated the deal will show their "good will" through lifting sanctions.
Iran's atomic energy chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, told state TV that Tehran was ready to begin taking steps to comply, and awaited an order from President Hassan Rouhani. "We are hopeful to begin in the current or next week," he said.
Even as the terms of the deal begin taking effect, recent developments have shown the wide gulf between the U.S. and Iran on other issues.
Fighters from Iran have been working in concert with Russia in Syria, and a Revolutionary Court convicted a Washington Post reporter who has been held more than a year on charges including espionage. The court has not provided details on the verdict or sentence. Further, two other Americans are being detained, and the U.S. has asked for the Iranian government's assistance in finding a former FBI agent who disappeared in 2007 while working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence mission.
Also, Iran successfully test-fired a guided long-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile.
"The Obama administration's belief that this nuclear agreement can usher in a new era of partnership is a complete misread," said a critic of the deal, Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Royce, R-Calif., said the administration "is looking more naive by the day."
One nation, Japan, plans to triple its imports of Iranian crude once sanctions are lifted, the Iranian Oil Ministry's Shana news agency said on Saturday, citing Seyed Mohsen Ghamsari, director of international affairs at National Iranian Oil Co. Japan will increase purchases to 350,000 barrels a day from 110,000 barrels, the agency said.
The U.S. waivers will result in the lifting of sanctions that now restrict or penalize non-U.S. companies for engaging in various economic activities, including buying Iranian oil and dealing with many Iranian banks, the U.S. officials said.
But for U.S. companies, sanctions will be eased only for certain narrow categories, the officials said. They said these include the export of civilian passenger aircraft, the import of spare aircraft parts and handicrafts from Iran, and some activities that subsidiaries of U.S. companies can conduct overseas.
In addition, Obama told reporters Friday that sanctions "related to ballistic missiles, human-rights violations, terrorism -- those, we will continue to enforce."
In another sign of progress, Iran told the IAEA on Sunday that it was ready to let monitors implement their most intrusive inspections once the agreement was implemented. Moreover, the government will begin providing more detailed design information about nuclear projects, the IAEA said in a statement on its website.
The so-called Additional Protocol goes beyond basic oversight provided by the safeguards agreement that IAEA member nations have with the agency. For instance, it allows short-notice inspections of sites the IAEA may suspect of undeclared nuclear activities.
International monitors last week ended their 12-year investigation into the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear past. Inspectors now have until Dec. 15 to draft and present a final assessment of their inquiry.
Iran's nuclear work has been the focus of international scrutiny since February 2003, when Iranian officials told inspectors visiting Tehran of their plans to begin enriching uranium on an industrial scale. Subsequent discoveries that Iran had secretly procured nuclear materials and technologies led to years of mistrust. In May 2008 and again in November 2011, the IAEA publicly disclosed its suspicions about Iran's activities.
Iran has consistently denied ever seeking a nuclear weapon.
Information for this article was contributed by Jonathan Tirone, Nicole Gaouette, Golnar Motevalli and Eddie Buckle of Bloomberg News; and by Kevin Freking, Nasser Karimi and George Jahn of The Associated Press.
A Section on 10/19/2015