Israel dismisses Iran nuclear framework as detached from reality

(GNN) - Israel dismissed celebration of a nuclear framework deal between major powers and Iran on Thursday as being detached from reality and vowed to continue lobbying to prevent what it called a bad final agreement.

Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said after the announcement in Switzerland that "the smiles in Lausanne are detached from grim reality in which Iran refuses to make any concessions on the nuclear issue and continues to threaten Israel and all other countries in the Middle East.

"We will continue with our efforts to explain and persuade the world in hopes of preventing a bad (final) agreement," Steinitz said in a written statement.

Steinitz later told Israel's Channel 2 television Israel was "worried" Iran had won removal of economic sanctions "without making significant concessions," but Israel hoped to improve the terms before a final deal was reached in June.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said he would speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Thursday. Netanyahu was expected to postpone any comment until after that conversation takes place.

Earlier, as details of the framework were being finalised, Netanyahu demanded in a post on Twitter that any deal achieved with Iran "must significantly roll back Iran's nuclear capabilities."

Netanyahu attached a diagram to his tweet showing Tehran's involvement in Middle East conflicts in Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt and reiterated Israel's demands that Iran "stop its terrorism and aggression."

Netanyahu has long been critical of the agreement being negotiated with Tehran.

In a controversial speech to the U.S. Congress last month that strained ties with Obama, he called it a "bad deal", doubting the terms would prevent Israel's arch enemy from attaining a capability to acquire nuclear weapons.

A second Israeli official called the agreement with Iran an "historic mistake" that gave "international legitimacy to Iran's nuclear program, whose sole aim is to create atomic bombs".

The framework amounts to "capitulating to Iranian demands," added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Economic sanctions were being lifted while Iran was "assured it could maintain its nuclear capabilities," the official said.

"The alternative to this deal isn't war, but rather a different deal that would significantly disable Iran's nuclear infrastructure," the official said.

Criticism came from across Israel's political spectrum. Centrist lawmaker Yair Lapid, a former finance minister, worried whether Iran would uphold its end of the bargain.

"The ayatolla's regime has been peddling fraud and deception for years," Lapid said in a statement.

"They will try, from day one, to cheat the international community as they have done in the past. There is no basis to the determination that today Iran was prevented from attaining a nuclear weapon," he said.

Udi Segal, diplomatic correspondent for Channel 2 news, summed up the scepticism of many by saying the deal amounted to the world giving Iran's years of nuclear violations a "kosher" certificate.

Some Israelis, however, saw some positives in the deal.

Chico Menashe, an Israel Radio reporter covering the talks in Lausanne, said Israel may have gained some breathing space in that Iran's breakout time to manufacture a nuclear weapon would be about a year under the terms of the deal.

"It's not a terrible agreement, though not a satisfactory one," Menashe said.

Israel, which sees Iran's nuclear program as an existential threat, has previously threatened to attack Iran if it is unhappy with an eventual deal.

(Reuters)(Reporting by Dan Williams; Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Tom Heneghan and Dan Grebler)

Full U.S. text on preliminary nuclear accord with Iran

(GNN) - Following is the full text of a U.S. "fact sheet" released after Washington and other major powers reached a framework agreement on Thursday on curbing Iran's nuclear program for at least a decade after eight days of marathon talks in Switzerland.

Below are the key parameters of a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear program that were decided in Lausanne, Switzerland. These elements form the foundation upon which the final text of the JCPOA will be written between now and June 30, and reflect the significant progress that has been made in discussions between the P5+1, the European Union, and Iran.

Important implementation details are still subject to negotiation, and nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. We will work to conclude the

JCPOA based on these parameters over the coming months.

Enrichment

• Iran has agreed to reduce by approximately two-thirds its installed centrifuges. Iran will go from having about 19,000 installed today to 6,104 installed under the deal, with only 5,060 of these enriching uranium for 10 years. All 6,104 centrifuges will be IR-1s, Iran’s first-generation centrifuge.

• Iran has agreed to not enrich uranium over 3.67 percent for at least 15 years.

• Iran has agreed to reduce its current stockpile of about 10,000 kg of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to 300 kg of 3.67 percent LEU for 15 years.

• All excess centrifuges and enrichment infrastructure will be placed in IAEA monitored storage and will be used only as replacements for operating centrifuges and equipment.

• Iran has agreed to not build any new facilities for the purpose of enriching uranium for 15 years.

• Iran’s breakout timeline – the time that it would take for Iran to acquire enough fissile material for one weapon – is currently assessed to be 2 to 3 months. That timeline will be extended to at least one year, for a duration of at least ten years, under this framework.

Iran will convert its facility at Fordow so that it is no longer used to enrich uranium

• Iran has agreed to not enrich uranium at its Fordow facility for at least 15 years.

• Iran has agreed to convert its Fordow facility so that it is used for peaceful purposes only – into a nuclear, physics, technology, research center.

• Iran has agreed to not conduct research and development associated with uranium enrichment at Fordow for 15 years.

• Iran will not have any fissile material at Fordow for 15 years.

• Almost two-thirds of Fordow’s centrifuges and infrastructure will be removed. The remaining centrifuges will not enrich uranium. All centrifuges and related infrastructure will be placed under IAEA monitoring.

Iran will only enrich uranium at the Natanz facility, with only 5,060 IR-1 first-generation centrifuges for ten years.

• Iran has agreed to only enrich uranium using its first generation (IR-1 models) centrifuges at Natanz for ten years, removing its more advanced centrifuges.

• Iran will remove the 1,000 IR-2M centrifuges currently installed at Natanz and place them in IAEA monitored storage for ten years.

• Iran will not use its IR-2, IR-4, IR-5, IR-6, or IR-8 models to produce enriched uranium for at least ten years. Iran will engage in limited research and development with its advanced centrifuges, according to a schedule and parameters which have been agreed to by the P5+1.

• For ten years, enrichment and enrichment research and development will be limited to ensure a breakout timeline of at least 1 year. Beyond 10 years, Iran will abide by its

enrichment and enrichment R&D plan submitted to the IAEA, and pursuant to the JCPOA, under the Additional Protocol resulting in certain limitations on enrichment capacity.

Inspections and Transparency

• The IAEA will have regular access to all of Iran’s nuclear facilities, including to Iran’s enrichment facility at Natanz and its former enrichment facility at Fordow, and including the use of the most up-to-date, modern monitoring technologies.

• Inspectors will have access to the supply chain that supports Iran’s nuclear program. The new transparency and inspections mechanisms will closely monitor materials and/or components to prevent diversion to a secret program.

• Inspectors will have access to uranium mines and continuous surveillance at uranium mills, where Iran produces yellowcake, for 25 years.

• Inspectors will have continuous surveillance of Iran’s centrifuge rotors and bellows production and storage facilities for 20 years. Iran’s centrifuge manufacturing base will

be frozen and under continuous surveillance.

• All centrifuges and enrichment infrastructure removed from Fordow and Natanz will be placed under continuous monitoring by the IAEA.

• A dedicated procurement channel for Iran’s nuclear program will be established to monitor and approve, on a case by case basis, the supply, sale, or transfer to Iran of 3 certain nuclear-related and dual use materials and technology – an additional transparency measure.

• Iran has agreed to implement the Additional Protocol of the IAEA, providing the IAEA much greater access and information regarding Iran’s nuclear program, including both declared and undeclared facilities.

• Iran will be required to grant access to the IAEA to investigate suspicious sites or allegations of a covert enrichment facility, conversion facility, centrifuge production

facility, or yellowcake production facility anywhere in the country.

• Iran has agreed to implement Modified Code 3.1 requiring early notification of construction of new facilities.

• Iran will implement an agreed set of measures to address the IAEA’s concerns regarding the Possible Military Dimensions (PMD) of its program.

Reactors and Reprocessing

• Iran has agreed to redesign and rebuild a heavy water research reactor in Arak, based on a design that is agreed to by the P5+1, which will not produce weapons grade plutonium, and which will support peaceful nuclear research and radioisotope production.

• The original core of the reactor, which would have enabled the production of significant quantities of weapons-grade plutonium, will be destroyed or removed from the country.

• Iran will ship all of its spent fuel from the reactor out of the country for the reactor’s lifetime.

• Iran has committed indefinitely to not conduct reprocessing or reprocessing research and development on spent nuclear fuel.

• Iran will not accumulate heavy water in excess of the needs of the modified Arak reactor, and will sell any remaining heavy water on the international market for 15 years.

• Iran will not build any additional heavy water reactors for 15 years.

Sanctions

• Iran will receive sanctions relief, if it verifiably abides by its commitments.

• U.S. and E.U. nuclear-related sanctions will be suspended after the IAEA has verified that Iran has taken all of its key nuclear-related steps. If at any time Iran fails to fulfill its commitments, these sanctions will snap back into place.

• The architecture of U.S. nuclear-related sanctions on Iran will be retained for much of the duration of the deal and allow for snap-back of sanctions in the event of significant

non-performance.

• All past UN Security Council resolutions on the Iran nuclear issue will be lifted simultaneous with the completion, by Iran, of nuclear-related actions addressing all key concerns (enrichment, Fordow, Arak, PMD, and transparency).

• However, core provisions in the UN Security Council resolutions – those that deal with transfers of sensitive technologies and activities – will be re-established by a new UN

Security Council resolution that will endorse the JCPOA and urge its full implementation. It will also create the procurement channel mentioned above, which will serve as a key transparency measure. Important restrictions on conventional arms and

ballistic missiles, as well as provisions that allow for related cargo inspections and asset freezes, will also be incorporated by this new resolution.

• A dispute resolution process will be specified, which enables any JCPOA participant, to seek to resolve disagreements about the performance of JCPOA commitments.

• If an issue of significant non-performance cannot be resolved through that process, then all previous UN sanctions could be re-imposed.

• U.S. sanctions on Iran for terrorism, human rights abuses, and ballistic missiles will remain in place under the deal.

Phasing

• For ten years, Iran will limit domestic enrichment capacity and research and development – ensuring a breakout timeline of at least one year. Beyond that, Iran will be bound by its

longer-term enrichment and enrichment research and development plan it shared with the P5+1.

• For fifteen years, Iran will limit additional elements of its program. For instance, Iran will not build new enrichment facilities or heavy water reactors and will limit its stockpile of enriched uranium and accept enhanced transparency procedures.

• Important inspections and transparency measures will continue well beyond 15 years. Iran’s adherence to the Additional Protocol of the IAEA is permanent, including its significant access and transparency obligations. The robust inspections of Iran’s uranium supply chain will last for 25 years.

• Even after the period of the most stringent limitations on Iran’s nuclear program, Iran will remain a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which prohibits Iran’s

development or acquisition of nuclear weapons and requires IAEA safeguards on its nuclear program.

(Reuters)(Reporting By Paul Grant)

Iran seeks nuclear deal but not normal ties with 'Great Satan'

(GNN) - Iran is not expected to normalize relations with the United States even if Tehran reaches agreement with world powers on its nuclear program, officials and analysts said.
The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China are trying to reach a deal with Iran aimed at stopping Tehran being able to develop a nuclear bomb in exchange for an easing of sanctions that are crippling its economy.

Loyalists of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, drawn from among Islamists and Revolutionary Guards who fear continued economic hardship might cause the collapse of the establishment, have agreed to back President Hassan Rouhani’s pragmatic readiness to negotiate a nuclear deal, Iranian officials said.

"But it will not go beyond that and he (Khamenei) will not agree with normalizing ties with America," said an official, who spoke in condition of anonymity.

"You cannot erase decades of hostility with a deal. We should wait and see, and Americans need to gain Iran’s trust. Ties with America is still a taboo in Iran.”

Tension between the hardline and pragmatic camps over the nuclear talks has reduced in recent months since Khamenei publicly backed the negotiations.

However, Khamenei has continued to give speeches larded with denunciations of Iran's "enemies" and "the Great Satan", words aimed at reassuring hardliners for whom anti-American sentiment has always been central to Iran's Islamic revolution.

Khamenei, whose hostility towards the Washington holds together Iran’s faction-ridden leadership, remains deeply suspicious of U.S. intentions.

But despite disagreement over Iran-U.S. ties, Iranian leaders, whether hardliners or pragmatists, agree that a nuclear deal will help Iran to rebuild its economy.

Relations with Washington were severed after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution and enmity to the United States has always been a rallying point for hardliners in Iran.

“As long as Khamenei remains Supreme Leader the chances of normalizing U.S.-Iran relations are very low. Rapprochement with the U.S. arguably poses a greater existential threat to Khamenei than continued conflict,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

“After three decades of propagating a culture of defiance against the U.S., it will be curious to see whether and how Khamenei spins a nuclear compromise as an act of resistance, not compromise.”

"There are different views among top officials over the normalization of ties with America when the nuclear dispute is resolved. But the Supreme Leader is against it,” said another Iranian official. "And he is the decision-maker."

Economically, the stakes are high, meaning that while Khamenei needs to keep the hardliners on side, a nuclear deal is a price he seems willing to pay.

Iran is under U.N., U.S. and European Union sanctions for refusing to heed U.N. Security Council demands that it halt all enrichment- and plutonium-related work at its nuclear sites.

The sanctions have severely damaged the Iranian economy, halving oil exports to just over 1 million barrels per day since 2012 while the country is also struggling with a sharp decline in international crude prices.

Rouhani, who dealt with Washington during the sale of arms to Iran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, has broken the taboo of engaging publicly with the United States. But rapprochement will only go so far.

“Despite all the meetings over the nuclear issue, Iran and America both need an enemy and I do not think ties will be normalized after the deal. But they will keep the communication channel open,” said Tehran-based political analyst Saeed Leylaz.

“Iranian leadership needs chants of Death to America to keep hardliners united. And opening an American embassy in Tehran is not going to happen, at least in the near future.”

Khamenei has been adept at ensuring that no group, even the hardliners, becomes powerful enough to challenge his authority, so if Rouhani secures a nuclear deal, it is likely to mean he is kept on a shorter leash when it comes to internal reforms and human rights, analysts say.

“The prospect of a triumphant Rouhani and an ascendant centrist faction could exacerbate the conservatives' fears of losing too much political ground and provoke them to thwart Rouhani's economic, social, and political reforms, should he pursue them," said Ali Vaez, an expert at the International Crisis Group.

“Khamenei's ruling style is to wield power without accountability ... In that context he needs a Rouhani who is weak enough not to pose a threat, but seemingly powerful enough to absorb popular blame for any shortcoming,” said Carnegie's Sadjadpour.

Rouhani is not the first president with a reform agenda to serve under Khamenei. Greater social and political freedom was initially allowed under Mohammad Khatami, but later Khamenei saw it as a threat.

Khatami's support was crucial in Rouhani’s election win, but the president can expect trouble ahead.

“To prevent Rouhani gaining more popularity and power inside Iran, the pressure on the reformist camp has increased and will continue to increase,” said Leylaz, the political analyst.

COMMON INTERESTS

But even if Khamenei maintains a hard line, Tehran and Washington have common interests and threats across the Middle East. They have cooperated tactically in the past, including when Iran helped the United States counter al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Islamic State in Iraq.

“Iran and the United States have some common enemies and also a clash of interests in the region. Therefore, they will continue to share intelligence and keep this back channel open,” said Leylaz.

But on the other side of the equation, Iran’s rival Saudi Arabia fears a nuclear deal might embolden Tehran to tighten its grip in the Middle East and step up its efforts to dominate Arab countries such as Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

And like Washington's other Middle Eastern ally, Israel, Saudi Arabia fears that President Barack Obama has in the process allowed their mutual enemy to gain the upper hand.

(Reuters)(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Giles Elgood)

European negotiator says framework accord with Iran unlikely soon

(GNN) - Six world powers are unlikely to reach a framework agreement with Iran on its nuclear work in the coming days as the sides are still far apart on key issues, a senior European negotiator said on Thursday, blaming Tehran for failing to compromise.

"Contrary to what the Iranians are saying with regard to 90 percent of an accord being done, that's not correct," the negotiator told reporters on condition of anonymity. "We are not close to an agreement."

Iran and six world powers are seeking a comprehensive agreement to curb Iran's most sensitive nuclear activities for at least 10 years in exchange for a gradual end to sanctions. The powers aim to complete the framework of a final deal by the end of March and reach a full agreement by June 30.

A senior U.S. State Department official on Thursday denied reports there was a draft nuclear deal in circulation among six world powers and Iran. An Iranian official echoed the denial. Several Western officials had privately spoken of a document with brackets highlighting areas of disagreement.

One major stumbling block is that Iran is pressing world powers to agree to start easing some restrictions on its atomic program earlier than Western countries are willing to accept, Western and Iranian officials said.

The current round of talks Switzerland may need to continue beyond Friday, the State Department official said.

"We are pretty far away. There are a lot of issues that still need to be resolved. The Iranians must make substantial concessions," the European negotiator said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the sides were working on difficult issues.

"We're pushing some tough issues but we made progress," Kerry told reporters, adding that it was unclear when the U.S. delegation would return to Washington.

In Washington, a senior Treasury official said the Obama administration would work with Congress to impose further sanctions on Iran if a nuclear deal is not reached.

U.S. lawmakers have been concerned the White House would cut Congress out of any deal, and would treat Iran too lightly.

Despite the gaps between the two sides in Lausanne, there have, however, been some areas of rough agreement. One of the central issues under discussion from the beginning was the number of centrifuges Iran would be permitted to operate. Western officials have said that number of would likely be around 6,000 if an agreement is reached.

Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation chief Ali Akbar Salehi, who is close to Iran's Supreme Leader, said on Tuesday that an accord was 90 percent agreed with only one issue unresolved.

Highlighting tensions after five days of talks, Salehi and Foreign Minister Mohamad Javad Zarif were captured by a Reuters photographer in a heated argument on the lawns of the luxury hotel overlooking the French Alps.

STICKING POINTS

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid Baidinejad confirmed that there were a number of sticking points.

"Contrary to what many think, that we are only discussing one issue, it is not correct," he told reporters. "We are discussing many issues and nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

He cited research and development into centrifuges as a sticking point.

"We are still discussing R&D along with other issues, technical and political issues," he said.

U.S. and European officials worry that Iranian research into more advanced centrifuges, the machines that purify uranium for use as fuel for reactors or, if very highly enriched, in bombs, could give it the capability to quickly produce an atomic arsenal. Tehran denies harboring any such ambitions.

The European negotiator said that if Iran does not give in on this issue, there will be no nuclear deal at all.

"Research and development currently has become the most critical and difficult issue, and there won't be an accord if the Iranians don't back down," he said.

Western officials said the duration of a deal was also an unresolved point.

President Barack Obama told Reuters in an interview this month that Iran would have to accept limits on its nuclear activities for at least 10 years under any deal.

France is pushing for at least 15 years for the agreement, followed by a 10-year period of intense monitoring by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency the European negotiator said.

Western officials said the United States was also pushing for restrictions on sensitive nuclear work by Tehran to be in place for more than a decade.

One diplomat referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's electoral win earlier this week said French negotiators had again adopted a tougher stance.

"It is like Netanyahu is sitting in the room and not French delegation," he said in a reference to Paris' opposition to an initial interim agreement in Nov. 2013.

Another major stumbling block is Iran's demand that all U.N. Security Council sanctions, including those targeting its nuclear program, be lifted immediately.

"They insist they have to go immediately. No way. It is out of the question," said the negotiator.

The United States has been calling for a written political agreement to be signed by the end of March. But Iran has rejected the idea of a written interim deal before a final deal by June 30.

Baidinejad said that if there was a framework agreement this month, it would not be in writing.

"There will be no written agreement," he said. "It will be kind of verbal agreement that will pave the ground for further talks."

(This story has been refiled to clarify attribution in paragraph 7)
(Reuters)(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Giles Elgood)