Friday 3 April 2015

Iran sanctions to be lifted

A landmark deal has been reached in Switzerland to remove sanctions against Iran.

This was, however prefaced by a big BUT - and I bet that won't be reported by western media. The US still reserves for itself the "right" to bomb Iran, deal or no deal.

Breakthrough Deal Reached at Iran Nuclear Talks in Lausanne
The long-awaited solution on Tehran's nuclear program was reached on Thursday at the latest round of talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne



2 April, 2015

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said all US and EU nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran would be lifted.

View image on Twitter

FM @FedericaMog @JZarif. @LaurentFabius @PHammondMP + @JohnKerry moments before announcement of
"The European Union will terminate implementation of all nuclear related economic and financial sanctions. And the United States will cease the application of all nuclear related economic and financial sanctions simultaneously either IAEA verified implementation by Iran of its key nuclear commitments," Federica Mogherini said at a joint press conference with the Iranian foreign minister.


  1. FM : All of ’s nuclear activities will be under strictest surveillance of @iaeaorg for up to 25 years. 4/5

FM : If violates the agreed rules, sanctions will be put into force again immediately. 5/5

The UN Security Council and a number of countries have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Iran, accusing the country of developing nuclear weapons under a guise of a civilian program, a claim Tehran has repeatedly denied.

At the same time, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the United States and the European Union would stop implementing anti-Iranian sanctions, according to the final agreement to be reached by the July 1 deadline.

He said that Tehran would continue enrichment under peaceful nuclear program and within the framework of the agreement. However, there still are differences between Iran and the United States, Zarif noted.

"None of our facilities will be closed," Zarif told reporters following joint press conference in Lausanne.

"We will continue enriching, we will continue research and development, our heavy water reactor will be modernized and we will continue the Fordow facility," he said.

  1. FM : After tough negotiations w/ , we have agreed on framework for final agreement. Important step forward! 1/5

FM : It is+was our aim to reach reliable pol. agreement that prevents from gaining access to 2/5
Tehran would sell enriched uranium in exchange for natural uranium, the Iranian foreign minister said.


Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (C) speaks to the press after meeting with the German and French foreign ministers in separate meetings at the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne on March 28, 2015
© AFP 2015/ POOL / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI


Mogherini said that Iran's stockpile would be limited. According to the reached agreement, only an enrichment facility in Natanz will continue operating. She added that Fordow nuclear facility would be converted into a nuclear physics site.
Solutions agreed at Iran nuclear talks will create a basis for a future deal between the P5+1 and Tehran, the EU top diplomat said.

The Iranian top diplomat said that resolutions of the United Nations Security Council would be terminated under the future nuclear deal adding that mechanisms would be created to verify that the agreement would be implemented.

Agreements on the Islamic Republic's nuclear issue would be endorsed by a new UN Security Council resolution.



Final Ministerial Plenary of these . Now going to meet the press with @JZarif. Good news
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said via Twitter that solutions on key parameters of the Islamic Republic's nuclear issue had been reached.



Solutions on key parameters of Iran case reached. Drafting to start immediately, to finish by June 30th.
The P5+1 group comprising Russia, the United States, France, China, the United Kingdom and Germany have been trying to reach a deal with Iran that would ensure the peaceful nature of Tehran's nuclear energy program since 2013.






And here is the BUT

Pentagon Chief: We Might Bomb Iran Even if Nuclear Deal Reached



2 April, 2015

A framework deal has been agreed upon by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, and the other participating nations. But on Tuesday, when the outcome was far less certain, Defense Secretary Carter assured the public that no agreement would entirely eliminate a more aggressive alternative.

The military option certainly will remain on the table,” Carter said on NBC’s Today program. “One of my jobs is to make sure all options are on the table.”

Military intervention would be necessary if Iran decided to break the deal, which sought to limit the number of uranium-enriching centrifuges Tehran would be allowed to operate. If it was discovered that the Islamic Republic was operating more centrifuges than agreed upon, and using that excess uranium to develop nuclear weapons, then an attack on those enrichment facilities could, theoretically, be an option.

He also stated that any agreement “can’t be based on trust, it has to be based on verification,” and that it must be “one that keeps us and the region safe. If it’s a good agreement to have, obviously it’s one worth waiting for.”

The new framework deal agreed upon by negotiators states that Tehran will be allowed to operate a single enrichment facility in Natanz, and in exchange, all nuclear-related sanctions against the nation will be lifted.

During his appearance, the Defense Secretary also took time to address other parts of what he called the “confusing, crazy-quilt region” of the Middle East. In reference to the chaos in Yemen, Carter said the United States would continue its counterterrorism operations, no matter the outcome of the Iranian negotiations.

Carters comments came just after Arizona Senator John McCain suggested that Israel “go rogue” and resist any deal that the negotiations might come to.

The Israelis will need to chart their own path of resistance. On the Iranian nuclear deal, they may have to go rogue” McCain said on the Senate floor. “Let’s hope their warnings have not been mere bluffs.”

McCain’s words may encourage a nation already bitterly opposed to the negotiations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been very vocal about his distrust of Iran’s intentions.

This dangerous deal, as it appears to be emerging, bears out all of our fears, and even more than that,” Netanyahu said during a speech on Sunday, as the original March 31 deadline for a framework deal approached.

After meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner announced they would put forth a bill which would require President Obama to get the approval of Congress before any deal is officiated.


A report from earlier




From RT





Iran nuclear talks: negotiators arrive at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne after the talks finished.
Iran nuclear talks: negotiators arrive at the Swiss Federal Institu
And the Guardian....



....But Israel dismissed the deal, and said it would continue to prevent a “bad” final agreement.

Strategic affairs minister Yuval Steinitz said in a statement after the announcements in Switzerland: “The smiles in Lausanne are detached from wretched 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.”

Obama was due to speak to Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Thursday.

Among the main points of the understanding unveiled in Lausanne are:

  • Iran’s infrastructure for uranium enrichment will be reduced by more than two thirds, from 19,000 installed centrifuges, to 6,104, of which only 5,060 will be used for uranium enrichment, for a period of 10 years.
  • Iran’s stockpile of low enriched uranium will be reduced by 98% to 300kg for a period of 15 years.
  • Iran’s heavy water reactor will be redesigned so it produces only tiny amounts of plutonium.
  • Iran’s underground enrichment plant at Fordow will be turned into a research centre for medical and scientific work.
  • Iran will be open to enhanced inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency for 20 years.

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