‘Historic’ Iran nuclear deal reached

Iran and its negotiating partners have finalized a hard-won agreement on the country’s nuclear program. Diplomats welcomed the “historic moment” as the group went in to its last meeting before presenting the deal, dw.com reports.
The foreign ministers of Iran, Germany, the EU and the permanent members of the UN Security Council were all smiles going in to their last plenary discussion in Vienna before presenting the final deal to curb the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program on Tuesday.
“I think this is a sign of hope for the entire world and we all know this is very much needed in this time,” the EU’s top diplomat Federica Mogherini said ahead of the meeting.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also hailed the deal, calling it a “historic moment.” Although he allowed the caveat that the agreement was “not perfect for anybody,” he said it still presented “a new chapter of hope” for Iran and its negotiating partners.
In a joint statement before the press, Mogherini and Zarif said they were “creating the conditions for building trust” and that Iran would “under no circumstances” be able to build a nuclear weapon.
The agreement, Mogherini said, is “not only a deal. It’s a good deal. And a good deal for all sides.”
The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), could get access to Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities within only 24 days.
US President Barack Obama said that with the deal, “every pathway to a nuclear weapon is cut off” for Iran, the BBC informs.
His Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, said it opened a “new chapter” in Iran’s relations with the world.
Negotiations between Iran and six world powers – the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany – began in 2006. The so-called P5+1 want Iran to scale back its sensitive nuclear activities to ensure that it cannot build a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which wants crippling international sanctions lifted, has always insisted that its nuclear work is peaceful.
Not everyone was happy about the agreement, however. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal a “bad mistake” which will give Iran “billions of dollars” to “fuel its terror machine.”