US Secretary of State John Kerry has reached an outline deal on Iran’s nuclear programs, scoring a distinctive achievement after very tough negotiations that seemed at breaking point several times in recent days.
A statement on parameters of an agreement to be completed by July has been agreed but the contents are yet to be disclosed. That might happen later today although much of those contents will remain secret and be revealed only to the relevant parliamentary committees of the participating nations— the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, Germany, the European Community and, of course, Iran.
It seems that the central issues have yet to be negotiated in detail, including the nature of restraints on Iran’s future research on nuclear fuel technologies and the pace at which the so far crippling economic and financial sanctions against Iran will be lifted
The first statement about the deal came from Frederica Mogherini, the EU negotiator, and Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif. It said, “Today we have taken a decisive step. We have reached solutions on key parameters of a comprehensive political solution.”
US press reports said President Barack Obama is likely to make an announcement from the White House giving more details and sources in Lausanne from both the West and Iran told reporters that the outline deal is more comprehensive than had been expected.
In a statement Britain’s Philip Hammond said, “This is well beyond what many of us thought possible even 18 months ago and a good basis for what I believe could be a very good deal.”
Still, too much optimism is unwarranted about Iran’s readiness to curtail sufficiently all its key activities to effectively block progress towards a nuclear weapon since its diplomats have repeatedly broken promises in the past.
However, it is worth noting that Iran has kept all its promises made 18 months ago in a previous interim agreement. So, it remains possible that sanctions have hurt its economy so deeply as to make Tehran keep its word this time.
But there is a long way to go because both Kerry and Zarif face strong opposition from their parliaments, Various hardline factions in Iran’s governing councils and in US Congress may not allow a final deal along the lines of today’s parameters to be concluded by the end of June, as scheduled.