US president Barack Obama says every path to a nuclear weapon will be cut off for Iran under a historic agreement announced in Vienna. Speaking from the White House in Washington on Tuesday after the deal was announced in Austria’s capital city, he says the deal ensures Iran will not develop a nuclear weapon. He added that the deal is not built on trust, but instead on verification, as inspectors will ensure the country’s compliance Guardian
Here’s a summary of the latest on the deal and the reaction to it:
Iranian wave the national flag during celebration in northern Tehran. Iranians poured onto the streets after the Ramadan fast ended at sundown. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/ Getty
The key points of the deal are here. Under the 159-page deal Iran will dismantle much of its nuclear infrastructure, while the UN, US and EU will take down a wall of sanctions built around Iran over the past nine years.
An anonymous Saudi official has said Saudi Arabia supports the deal but emphasized the importance of a strict inspections regime and the ability to reimpose sanctions. Obama and Saudi King Salman spoke by phone on Tuesday.
Iranian Americans are rarely shy about expressing opinions or butting heads over politics, and they wasted no time arguing with each other over the historic nuclear deal struck in Vienna, writes Andrew Gumbel.
Some painted the agreement as a senseless capitulation to the mullahs while others were hopeful their ancestral country may at last be ready to emerge from diplomatic isolation.
Within California’s large and prosperous Iranian community, the battle lines hew closely to the political divisions of the United States as a whole – a sign of the level of integration achieved in the 36 years since the revolution that brought many Iranian families to the United States in the first place.
Iranian Jews, especially Republican Iranian Jews, tend to oppose the deal, while Muslims, especially Democratic Muslims, generally welcome it.
“I think it’s a disaster, a complete capitulation,” said Sami Kermanian, a real estate investor and former secretary general of the Iranian Jewish Federation.
“Every time this administration had an opportunity to come out in support of the people of Iran, they didn’t do it. Every time they were given a chance to strengthen the regime, they did that.”
Obama spoke on the phone with King Salman of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday from Air Force One to discuss the newly completed Iran nuclear agreement, the White House said.
Saudi Arabia has still officially commented on the deal.
The Intercept interviewed Hadi Ghaemi of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, who is a harsh government critic. Ghaemi said that the deal is likely to alleviate economic suffering among ordinary Iranians.
While he foresees positive outcomes for the country, he said that in the immediate aftermath, “there may be short-term backlash in the form of domestic repression or the flaring of minor conflicts with the US, because the state has built its entire identity and official ideology on the idea of countering American imperialism.”
Nonetheless, “the center of gravity is moving towards being pragmatic and engaging once again — the anti-imperialism and confrontational attitude has lost its pull on the people, even those who took part in the revolutions, and has lost all content over the years.” He added that “Iran is never going to become a real ally or friend of the US, but inside the country people say that the same way that China has both economic cooperation and strategic and political rivalry with America, this is what we should also strive have.”
Here are a few more photos and videos of celebrations in Iran from social media. There have been reports that celebrants have been ushered home by police in some parts of Tehran.
It has taken many many hours for Saudi Arabia to comment on the nuclear deal, but the state-run Saudi Press Agency is quoting an unnamed Saudi official saying his country supported an agreement to stop Tehran gaining nuclear weapons, but emphasised the importance of a strict inspections regime and the ability to reimpose sanctions.
The comments also stressed that sanctions relating to terrorism and violation of international arms treaties would remain intact. It was the first official Saudi reaction to the agreement between major powers and Tehran.
“It removes the barriers – largely artificial – on the way to a broad coalition to fight the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups,” Lavrov said in a statement on the ministry’s website on Tuesday.
Iranian state TV said the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed his gratitude to the Iranian negotiating team for concluding the deal with world powers in Vienna.
Khamenei is said to have voiced his “appreciation and thanked the Iranian nuclear negotiators for their honest and diligent efforts.”
Hassan Rouhani: Iran’s president is by a long way the biggest winner to emerge from the nuclear agreement. Ending Iran’s international isolation is a historic achievement that looks likely to win him a second term in 2017. But he faces resistance from suspicious hardliners who fear that even limited rapprochement with the US and the west will promote demands for domestic change that could undermine a regime dominated by the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Bashar al-Assad: The Syrian president quickly hailed the agreement as a “major turning point” in the history of Iran, the region and the world, calling it a “great victory”. Assad has received military and financial support from Iran since the uprising against him erupted in 2011. Tehran’s enhanced regional position in the wake of the deal will strengthen its demands for recognition as a key player in the Middle East, including in any negotiations about the future of Syria. Assad’s Syrian and Arab enemies, contemplating a war that has already left 210,000 dead and made millions of people homeless, are horrified by the nuclear deal – for exactly these reasons.
LOSERS
King Salman bin Abdulaziz: Saudi Arabia’s initial silence about the agreement suggests deep anxiety about a rapprochement between the US and Iran, its greatest rival in the region, and a pivot away from the Gulf. The view in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and nearby capitals is that Washington is appeasing Tehran and ignoring their own security concerns – despite the Gulf states’ far greater expenditure on defence. Salman strongly dislikes Iran’s role in Iraq, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen, where the Saudis are attacking Houthi rebels they say are backed by Tehran.
Binyamin Netanyahu: Israel’s prime minister had vowed to stop a nuclear agreement between the US and Iran. Not only did he fail to do that but he caused serious damage to Israel’s prized strategic relationship with Washington. Critics at home say he exaggerated the extent of an Iranian threat, some calling for his resignation. Iran has been notoriously hostile to the Jewish state since the 1979 revolution and highlights its support for the Palestinians, including Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Nothing in the Vienna agreement suggests that will change. Israel also fears Iran may be emboldened.
Celebrations seem to be kicking off in Iran, shortly after iftar, the evening meal to break the day-long fast during Ramadan. Videos and photos from Iran are trickling through on social media now:
Hundreds of people have gathered at Vanak square. One man says: "have you ever seen that? The police is helping us." pic.twitter.com/JrI9r7esPr
Julian Borger has outlined the key points of the nuclear deal. Read his full analysis here for a more detailed breakdown:
Uranium enrichment capacity: Iran’s current capacity of 19,000 gas centrifuges would be reduced by more than two-thirds to 6,104, out of which just over 5,000 would actually be enriching uranium.
Fordow underground enrichment plant: Under the agreement, it would be used only for non-military research.
The enriched uranium stockpile: Iran’s stockpile of LEU would be reduced from its current level of about 7,500kg to 300kg, a reduction of 96%.
Research, development and future enrichment capacity: There would be limits on the R&D work Iran could do on advanced centrifuges.
The heavy water reactor at Arak: ran would remove the reactor core and fill it with concrete.
Full-access IAEA inspections: IAEA inspectors would have full access to all Iran’s declared nuclear sites, but with much more advanced technology than they are using now.
IAEA investigation into past activity: Iran has agreed a “road map” with the IAEA officials by which it would provide access to facilities and people suspected of involvement in past experimental work.
Sanctions relief: As Iran takes the agreed steps, the US and EU would provide guarantees that financial and economic sanctions will be suspended or cancelled.
A new UN security council resolution and the arms embargo: The resolution will be passed before the end of the month but the agreement will not take effect for 90 days. An arms embargo on Iran would remain in place for five years.
The White House has released the readout of president Obama’s call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Obama noted that the JCPOA will verifiably prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon while ensuring the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program going forward.
The President also underscored his Administration’s stalwart commitment to Israel’s security and noted that the JCPOA will remove the specter of a nuclear-armed Iran, an outcome in the national security interest of the United States and Israel. The President told the Prime Minister that today’s agreement on the nuclear issue will not diminish our concerns regarding Iran’s support for terrorism and threats toward Israel.
The President noted that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s visit next week to Israel is a reflection of the unprecedented level of security cooperation between the United States and Israel, and that the visit offers a further opportunity to continue our close consultation on security issues with Israeli counterparts as we remain vigilant in countering the Iranian regime’s destabilizing activities in the region.
The White House has left Netanyahu’s response up to our collective imaginations...
The Vienna agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme will make the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency the key arbiter of the deal, a task that brings with it huge prestige and severe strains.
One of the reasons the talks were held in the Austrian capital is that it is also the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose central role is woven tightly into the final text of the historic settlement. It will verify whether Iran has held up its end of the bargain by shrinking its nuclear infrastructure, and by the end of the year the agency is expected to deliver a report on its investigation into the country’s alleged weapons design work in the past. The IAEA’s director general, Yukiya Amano, could make or break the agreement with his choice of words.
The key points of the deal are here. Under the 159-page deal Iran will dismantle much of its nuclear infrastructure, while the UN, US and EU will take down a wall of sanctions built around Iran over the past nine years.
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