LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) —
After marathon negotiations, the United States, Iran and five other
world powers announced a deal Thursday outlining limits on Iran's
nuclear program so it cannot lead to atomic weapons, directing
negotiators toward a comprehensive agreement within three months.
Reading out a joint statement,
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini hailed what she
called a "decisive step" after more than a decade of work. Iranian
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif followed with the same statement
in Farsi. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the top diplomats of
Britain, France and Germany also briefly took the stage behind them.
President Barack Obama spoke midafternoon at the White House.
In Lausanne, Kerry said in a
tweet that there was agreement "to resolve major issues on nuclear
program. Back to work soon on a final deal." He was expected to brief
reporters later Thursday.
Mogherini said the seven nations
would now start writing the text of a final accord. She cited several
agreed-upon restrictions on Iran's enrichment of material that can be
used either for energy production or in nuclear warheads.
Crucially for the Iranians,
economic sanctions related to its nuclear programs are to be rolled back
after the U.N. nuclear agency confirms compliance.
Zarif told reporters the
agreement would show "our program is exclusively peaceful, has always
been and always will remain exclusively peaceful," while not hindering
the country's pursuit of atomic energy for civilian purposes.
"Our facilities will continue,"
he said. "We will continue enriching, we will continue research and
development." He said a planned heavy water reactor will be "modernized"
and that the Iranians would keep their deeply buried underground
facility at Fordo.
"We have taken a major step but
are still some way away from where we want to be," Zarif said, calling
Thursday's preliminary step as a "win-win outcome."
Israeli leaders, deeply concerned about Iran's intentions, were much less positive.
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said that a final agreement "must significantly roll back
Iran's nuclear capabilities and stop its terrorism and aggression."
Mogherini said Iran's heavy
water reactor wouldn't produce weapons-grade plutonium and that Fordo
wouldn't be a site for enrichment of uranium, which can be used for
nuclear weapons.
The officials spoke following
weeklong talks that were twice extended past a March 31 deadline for a
preliminary deal. Although the U.S. pushed for concrete commitments, the
Iranians insisted on a general statement of what had been accomplished.
Negotiators worked concurrently on documents describing what needs to
be done for the final agreement.
The U.S. and its five partners
want to curb Iran's nuclear technologies so it cannot develop weapons.
Tehran denies such ambitions but is negotiating because it wants
economic sanctions imposed over its nuclear program to be lifted.
Washington, in particular, faces
strong domestic pressure. Critics in Congress are threatening to impose
new sanctions over what they believe is a bad deal taking shape and the
Obama administration needed to make as many details public as possible
to sell the merits of its diplomatic effort.
The final breakthrough came
after a day after a flurry of overnight sessions between Kerry and
Zarif, and meetings involving the six powers.
