The historic nuclear accord between
Iran and major powers entered into force Saturday as the UN confirmed
that Tehran has shrunk its atomic programme and as painful sanctions
were lifted on the Islamic republic.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani,
whose 2013 election helped launch the Herculean diplomatic effort
towards the July 14 Vienna deal, said it was a “glorious victory” for
the “patient nation of Iran.”
“I thank God for this blessing &
bow to the greatness of the patient nation of Iran.” Rouhani said on
his official Twitter account.
The International Atomic Energy
Agency said its “inspectors on the ground verified that Iran has carried
out all measures” agreed under the agreement.
EU foreign policy chief Federica
Mogherini, representing the six powers, said that as a result
“multilateral and national economic and financial sanctions related to
Iran’s nuclear programme are lifted”.
“This achievement clearly
demonstrates that with political will, perseverance, and through
multilateral diplomacy, we can solve the most difficult issues and find
practical solutions that are effectively implemented,” Mogherini said in
Vienna in a joint statement with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad
Javad Zarif.
The so-called “Implementation Day”
for the accord also followed news of a prisoner swap between Iran and
the United States in another sign of thawing relations between the two
foes since the July 14 agreement.
The steps taken by Iran, combined
with ultra-close IAEA inspections, extend to at least a year — from a
few months previously — how long Iran would need to make one nuclear
bomb’s worth of fissile material.
They include slashing by two-thirds
its uranium centrifuges, reducing its stockpile of uranium — enough
before the deal for several bombs — and removing the core of the Arak
reactor which could have given Iran weapons-grade plutonium.
Iran has always denied wanting
nuclear weapons, saying its activities are exclusively for peaceful
purposes such as power generation.
“Today… the United States, our
friends and allies in the Middle East, and the entire world are safer
because the threat of the nuclear weapon has been reduced,” US Secretary
of State John Kerry said in Vienna.
In what was hailed as a momentous
diplomatic breakthrough, the Vienna agreement was nailed down after two
years of rollercoaster negotiations following the moderate Rouhani’s
June 2013 election.
The highly complex deal drew a line
under a standoff dating back to 2002 marked by failed diplomatic
initiatives, ever-tighter sanctions, defiant nuclear expansion by Iran
and threats of military action.
In addition it put Iran and the
United States on the road to better relations some 35 years after the
Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed shah, and at a
particularly explosive time in the Middle East.
The five detainees to be freed by
Iran included Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian and Saeed
Abedini, a pastor from Idaho, a senior US official said Saturday.
In exchange Washington said it had
granted clemency to seven Iranians, six of whom were dual US-Iranian
citizens, and dropped charges against 14 more.
– Daggers drawn –
The agreement, heralded as US
President Barack Obama’s biggest major foreign policy triumph, has by no
means been universally cheered, however.
Obama’s Republican opponents charge
that it fails to do enough to ensure Iran will never get the bomb, a
complaint shared by Israel, Iran’s arch foe widely assumed to have
nuclear weapons itself.
“Even after signing the nuclear
deal, Iran has not relinquished its ambition to obtain nuclear weapons,
and continues to act to destabilise the Middle East and spread terror
throughout the world while violating its international commitments,”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday.
“Today, the Obama administration
will begin lifting economic sanctions on the world’s leading state
sponsor of terrorism,” Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said.
Sunni Saudi Arabia, Iran’s other
great regional rival, is also alarmed at the prospect of warmer US-Iran
ties and of predominantly Shiite Iran, newly flush with oil revenues,
increasing its influence.
Already Saudi Arabia and Iran,
fighting a proxy war in Yemen and key players in the Syrian conflict,
are at daggers drawn following Saudi Arabia’s execution of a Shiite
cleric in early January and the subsequent ransacking of the Saudi
embassy in Tehran.
Iran’s imminent return to the oil
market has also contributed to the sharp slide in the price of crude to
12-year lows of under $30 per barrel this week, putting Saudi Arabia’s
public finances under strain.
– Bumpy road –
The deal has more than a decade to
run, which is likely to be a bumpy road, experts say, not least if more
hardline governments take power in Tehran or Washington.
A “snapback” mechanism ensures that
many of the sanctions can be swiftly reimposed, and a special joint
commission is meant to handle any misunderstandings.
“Iran may test the boundaries of the agreement,” said Kelsey Davenport of the Arms Control Association.
“At the same time, punitive actions
for violations on both sides should be proportionate, and differentiated
from technical missteps, which may occur under such a complex
agreement,” she told AFP.
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