Yahoo – AFP, Simon Sturdee with Arthur MacMillan in Tehran, January 16, 2016
Vienna
(AFP) - 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.
The
International Atomic Energy Agency said its "inspectors on the ground
verified that Iran has carried out all measures" agreed under the July 14
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".
US
Secretary of State John Kerry
holds a press conference in Vienna
on January 16,
2016 (AFP Photo/
Joe Klamar)
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"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," they said.
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.
In what was
hailed as a momentous diplomatic breakthrough, the Vienna agreement was nailed
down after two years of rollercoaster negotiations following the June 2013
election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
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 four
Iranian-American 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.
The others
were Amir Hekmati and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, Washington said. A fifth
American, identified as Matthew Trevitick, was also to be released as part of a
different process.
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.
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.
The lifting
of sanctions on Iran is "going to put 500,000 barrels per day more on the
market", said James Williams of WTRG Economics. Some analysts believe $20
oil is on the horizon.
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.
FM #Steinmeier on #IranDeal #ImplementationDay: „Historic success for diplomacy.“ #IranTalks #JCPOA
pic: archive pic.twitter.com/sB7W3PwoBn
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) January 16, 2016
#ImplementationDay--I thank God for this blessing & bow to the greatness of the patient nation of Iran. Congrats on this glorious victory!
— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) January 16, 2016
"First, yesterday marked a milestone in preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon." —@POTUS #IranDeal https://t.co/YPpOVULMt2
— The Iran Deal (@TheIranDeal) January 17, 2016
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US
Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to journalists about his negotiations
with
Iran upon his arrival from Vienna at Joint Base Andrews on January 17,
2016
(AFP Photo/Kevin Lamarque)
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