WarSclerotic

Israel Minister: Iran Deal Based on ‘Deceit’ – ABC News.

Israel on Sunday harshly criticized the international community’s nuclear deal with Iran, accusing the world of “self-delusion” and saying the agreement would not halt Tehran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

Israel has long accused Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapon, and in the weeks leading up to Sunday’s agreement, had warned the emerging deal was insufficient. It had called for increased pressure on Iran, and warned that any relief from economic sanctions would make Iran less willing to compromise down the road.

Israel’s Cabinet minister for intelligence issues, Yuval Steinitz, said the last-minute changes to the deal were “far from satisfactory” and did nothing to change Israel’s position.

“This agreement is still bad and will make it more difficult than before to achieve an appropriate solution in the future,” he said. Instead, he compared it to a failed 2007 international deal with North Korea and said it “is more likely to bring Iran closer to having a bomb.”

“Israel cannot participate in the international celebration, which is based on Iranian deception and (international) self-delusion,” said Steinitz, whose responsibilities include monitoring Iran’s nuclear program.

Israel considers a nuclear-armed Iran a threat to its very survival, citing Iranian calls for Israel’s destruction, its development of long-range missiles capable of striking Israel and Iran’s support for hostile militant groups along Israel’s borders. It dismisses Iranian claims that the nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Israel has repeatedly threatened to carry out a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities if it concludes international diplomacy has failed to curb the Iranian nuclear program.

But Steinitz indicated an Israeli attack is not in the works for the time being.

“Despite our disappointment, we will remain steadfast in our position and work with our friends and allies in the United States and the rest of the world in an attempt to achieve a comprehensive solution which includes a full and genuine dismantling of Iran’s military

Iran, world powers reach historic nuclear deal with Iran – The Washington Post.

By Anne Gearan and Joby Warrick, Published: November 23 | Updated: Sunday, November 24, 6:05 AM

GENEVA — Iran and six major powers agreed early Sunday on a historic deal that freezes key parts of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for temporary relief on some economic sanctions, diplomats confirmed.

The deal was reached after four days of marathon bargaining and an eleventh-hour intervention by Secretary of State John F. Kerry and foreign ministers from Europe, Russia and China, the sources said.

The agreement, sealed at a 3 a.m. signing ceremony in Geneva’s Palace of Nations, requires Iran to halt or scale back parts of its nuclear infrastructure, the first such pause in more than a decade.

“We have reached an agreement,” Michael Mann, spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said in a Twitter posting that was echoed by a separate posting by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The deal, intended as a first step toward a more comprehensive nuclear pact to be completed in six months, freezes or reverses progress at all of Iran’s major nuclear facilities, according to Western officials familiar with the details. It halts the installation of new centrifuges used to enrich uranium and caps the amount and type of enriched uranium that Iran is allowed to produce.

Iran also agreed to halt work on key components of a heavy-water reactor that could someday provide Iran with a source of plutonium. In addition, Iran accepted a dramatic increase in oversight, including daily monitoring by international nuclear inspectors, the officials said.

The concessions not only halt Iran’s nuclear advances but also make it virtually impossible for Tehran to build a nuclear weapon without being detected, the officials said. In return, Iran will receive modest relief of trade sanctions and access to some of its frozen currency accounts overseas, concessions said to be valued at less than $7 billion over the six-month term of the deal. The sanctions would be reinstated if Iran violates the agreement’s terms.

Speaking at the White House after the deal with announced, President Obama praised the negotiators. “We have pursued intensive diplomacy,” he said. “Today that diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that’s more secure.” he said.

“For the first time in nearly a decade we have halted parts of Iran’s nuclear program.”

The agreement is a long-sought victory for the Obama administration, which from its earliest days made the Iranian nuclear program one of its top foreign policy priorities. The administration, helped by its overseas allies as well as Congress, achieved unprecedented success in imposing harsh economic sanctions that cut Iran’s oil exports in half and decimated the country’s currency. It was hoping to quickly finalize an agreement in the face of threats by Congress to impose additional economic sanctions on Iran.

The deal is also a victory for Kerry, who traveled to Geneva twice in two weeks to participate in the negotiations.

Still, the agreement is likely to face heavy opposition from key allies — chiefly Israel and Saudi Arabia — as well as congressional skeptics who have demanded much greater concessions from Iran, including the dismantling of its enrichment program.

In a posting on Twitter, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), outspoken on foreign and military affairs, expressed his concerns about a deal, saying, “Unless the agreement requires dismantling of the Iranian centrifuges, we really haven’t gained anything..”

Moments later, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) suggested the diplomatic agreement was designed to distract from domestic troubles for President Obama: “Amazing what WH will do to distract attention from O-care.”

The marathon discussions with Iran were described by Western diplomats as “very difficult” and “intense,” and several officials had sought to lower expectations that a resolution could be reached before Sunday, when Kerry and the other foreign ministers were due to depart. Negotiations over the deal had remained snarled late into Saturday evening, with the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia, the European Union and the United States huddled in a hotel conference room.

Several of the diplomats met earlier in the day with Iran’s Zarif, who told reporters that the parties remained divided on key details of the six-month deal.

Kerry, Zarif and Ashton met late Saturday, but the session ended with no announcement of progress. Instead, Iran’s deputy foreign minister hardened his position on what he called Iran’s right to enrich uranium, a matter of deep national pride.

Although “98 percent” of the deal was done, Iran said it could not accept any agreement that does not recognize enrichment rights, Abbas Araghchi told reporters.

“Any agreement without recognizing Iran’s right to enrich, practically and verbally, will be unacceptable for Tehran,” Araghchi said, according to Reuters.

Western officials have balked at recognizing a legal right to uranium enrichment, hoping instead to craft language that acknowledges the right of all countries to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Zarif appeared to endorse that approach publicly this month.

The sides also continued to haggle over details of the limited sanctions relief to be offered in return for Iran’s scaling back its nuclear program, diplomats said.

The most painful sanctions, affecting Iran’s oil and banking sectors, would remain until the end of the deal’s first phase, and any relaxation of them was dependent on Iran’s willingness to accept permanent curbs on its nuclear program, Western officials said.

Still another obstacle was Iran’s partially completed heavy-water reactor in the city of Arak. The agreement freezes construction of the reactor’s core, which could, if completed, give Iran a path toward obtaining plutonium for nuclear weapons.

Kerry decided to intervene in the talks after negotiators reportedly made progress in overcoming key obstacles to a deal. Kerry joined Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who arrived in Geneva on Friday, as well as British and French counterparts who traveled to Switzerland early Saturday. Diplomats and technical teams from Iran and the six major powers had been meeting privately since Wednesday to resolve a number of sticking points.

Israel, a close U.S. ally, opposes the deal as too generous to an enemy it sees as a mortal threat. Israel is not a party to the talks.

The Obama administration has been unable to reassure Israel or another partner, Saudi Arabia, that the arrangement would make the Middle East safer.

Talks were meant to end Friday. But they were extended as foreign ministers joined lower-level negotiators Saturday for what appeared to be final rounds of talks.

A spokeswoman for Kerry had said he would leave Sunday for other diplomatic meetings. Because Kerry is considered an essential player in finalizing the pact, that set an unofficial deadline to either strike a deal or announce that this round came close, but not close enough.

Zarif and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani have pushed for a deal in the past three months, an about-face after years of unproductive talks. These negotiations were the first extended talks between senior U.S. and Iranian diplomats in more than 30 years.

© The Washington Post Company

Iran agrees to interim deal completely halting nuclear progress | JPost | Israel News.

By MICHAEL WILNER

11/24/2013 04:27

After negotiations spill into a fifth day, Iranian FM Javad Zarif announces agreement has been reached; Obama deems deal “most significant and tangible progress” since he took office; Rouhani applauds agreement.

WASHINGTON — Iran has agreed to terms of an initial bargain set by world powers in the hopes of pausing a standoff with the United States and Europe over its nuclear program.

“Diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure,” US President Barack Obama said in a late-night address from the White House, characterizing the deal as the “most significant and tangible progress” since the beginning of his presidency.

“For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program,” Obama said. “And key parts of the program will be rolled back.”

Iran’s decision on Sunday morning to comply with the deal — characterized in recent days by the Israeli government as “very, very bad” — was hailed in Geneva, Switzerland, as the “first step” toward a peaceful solution to the decade-old crisis.

“Because of this agreement, Iran cannot use negotiations as cover to advance its program,” Obama said, adding that the deal “cuts off [Iran’s] paths to a bomb.”

Germany and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China — announced the interim agreement after the chief diplomat of each nation descended on Geneva, where talks were in their third round since October, in order to secure the deal.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday congratulated Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif and the six world powers involved in reaching an interim agreement after four long days of negotiations in Geneva.

“Iranian people’s vote for #moderation & constructive engagement (plus) tireless efforts by negotiating teams are to open new horizons,” he posted on Twitter, after re-Tweeting Zarif’s announcement of the deal.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said in the early hours of Sunday morning that the historic deal “enlarges the breakout time” Iran would need to develop fissile material for a nuclear device.

“The purpose of this is very simple: to require Iran to prove the peaceful nature of its program,” Kerry said, “and to ensure that it cannot build a nuclear weapon.” The ” first step ” imposes a limit on Iran’s enrichment capabilities and dilutes existing stockpiles of uranium, effectively halting parts of the program that are most worrisome to the international community. The deal specifically addresses the enrichment of uranium to weapons-grade quality, spun in centrifuges to such a degree that the material has no practical civilian purpose.

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif said at a Sunday morning press conference in Geneva that Iran will never stop enriching uranium. He told reporters that enrichment will continue and “will be a part of any agreement now and in the future,” although halting it is a significant portion of the agreement. Although many restrictions will be implemented over the next 6 months, it will not completely cease.

When asked about Israel’s potential reaction to the deal, Zarif avoided naming the country, but said that there is no reason to react negatively. “The deal is geared toward resolving a problem that has cast its shadow cast over entire world, and this region. I do not see any justification to be concerned about the resolution of a problem.”

“We are trying to move forward with the international community,” he added. “They must accept fact that threat of war is illegal. War is unnecessary,imprudent and illegal. If we can prevent that, it is an accomplishment. The force option is no longer on the table.”

International monitors will be granted unfettered access to Iran’s largest nuclear facilities, including Fordow, a uranium enrichment plant burrowed deep inside a mountain in the holy city of Qom and kept clandestine until 2009.

In his statement on Sunday morning, Kerry recalled the revelation of the Fordow facilities the basis for suspicion that led to such harsh sanctions against Iran in the first place.

Additionally in the deal, three-quarters of all centrifuges already installed at Fordow, and half of those at Natanz — another major facility — will be rendered inoperable within the coming months.

Iran will not be allowed to install new centrifuges, but will be required under the agreement to freeze all enrichment beyond 20 percent — a key step towards weaponization. The Iranian government will also be required to “dilute” all uranium already enriched above 5 percent into a form “not suitable for further enrichment,” the White House said on Saturday night.

But Iran may continue enriching uranium to 3.5 percent, and is required to dismantle any existing enrichment infrastructure.

The heavy-water plutonium reactor in Arak — which provides the Islamic Republic with another path to a nuclear warhead — will not be commissioned, fueled or further expanded.

In exchange for these concessions from Tehran, world powers will provide the Islamic Republic with sanctions relief valued up to $10 billion, including $4.2 billion in direct foreign exchange. The sanctions adjustments are “limited and reversible,” says the US government.

The White House released a list of sanctions that would remain in place immediately after the announcement of the deal, which includes those against the Central Bank of Iran, Iran’s oil sector and restricted access to the US financial system.

The agreement will be in effect for six month s, during which time the P5+1 powers will attempt to forge a conclusive, final-status agreement that will end the nuclear impasse.

“Nothing will be agreed to unless everything is agreed to,” Obama said.

“The burden is on Iran.” The US government has said its goal is to “put time on the clock” in order to stave off military conflict between itself, and its allies, and the Iranian government.

US officials have characterized an alternative strategy popular on Capitol Hill — not to strike an interim deal with Iran, but rather to sanction its government even further — as equivalent to ordering a march to war.

“This deal appears to provide the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism with billions of dollars in exchange for cosmetic concessions that neither fully freeze nor significantly roll back its nuclear infrastructure,” said Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill), who favors new sanctions against Iran and lobbied against the deal. “Furthermore, the deal ignores Iran’s continued sponsorship of terrorism, its testing of long-range ballistic missiles and its abuse of human rights.” Kerry canceled a trip to Israel earlier in the week in order to clear his schedule for the weekend, expecting his presence would be required in Geneva.

The secretary will fly on from the Swiss city to London to meet with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague on Iran, and other matters, including Syria and the Middle East peace process.

The international community has refused to accept Iran’s production of fissile material since 2003, when George W. Bush called the Iranian government part of an “axis of evil” for its attempts to build weapons of mass destruction.