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NUKEWARS
Iran says nuclear deal will open 'new page' with world
By Arthur MacMillan
Tehran (AFP) April 3, 2015


Iranian media split on merit of nuclear deal
Tehran (AFP) April 4, 2015 - The merit of an outline nuclear deal with world powers depends on tough details being settled in coming months, Iran's newspapers said Saturday, with opinions split on the planned agreement.

Conservative outlets maintained their long-held scepticism about negotiations with the United States and other powers, but rather than criticise the process outright many questioned who had benefited from recent talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who will have the final say on any deal, has yet to officially comment on the agreed framework for ending the 12-year crisis over Tehran's nuclear programme.

Saturday's newspapers were the first in Iran since the announcement in Lausanne Thursday, as none were published during the two-week Nowruz holiday period, which has now ended.

"Lausanne Horse-Trading: Bargain or Bust?" asked the front page headline in Kayhan, a hardline conservative daily. Its downbeat editorial argued that Iran had received less than it had given away.

"The agreement speaks of suspension of sanctions and not the lifting of them," wrote editor Hossein Shariatmadari, who is directly appointed by Khamenei.

"Things that Iran has accepted are clear and verifiable, but what the other side has agreed is vague and subject to interpretation," he added.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius drew attention Friday to the sanctions issue not being settled and noted that Iran would "still have to go all the way" on a deal.

On a similar note, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier cautioned: "It's too early to celebrate."

The English-language daily Iran News asked on its Saturday front page: "Who is the real winner?"

However, reformist media praised the work of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his negotiators.

Shahrvand, a centrist daily, said Zarif and his team has successfully navigated "a dangerous stretch of the path" toward a deal.

On Friday, President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would honour its commitments under any final agreement and promised that it would open a "new page" in the Islamic republic's international relations.

But, stressing that the West must keep its promises, he added: "If one day they want to choose a different path, that choice would also be open to us."

In a sign of the criticism still could come, Mansour Haghighatpour, vice president of parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, said Iran's negotiators had overstepped their boundaries.

"We offered Western inspectors a key to our military installations," he was quoted by the Tasnim news agency as saying.

Such a step and ratification of the additional protocol of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a condition of any agreement "are issues for... the parliament," he said.

Iran vowed to stand by a nuclear deal with world powers Friday as President Hassan Rouhani promised it would open a "new page" in the country's global ties.

Keen to win over domestic sceptics, Iran's leaders pushed the merits of a potentially historic agreement, with clerics touting its virtues at Friday prayers in mosques.

The framework agreement -- reached Thursday after marathon talks in Switzerland -- was hailed by world leaders as a major breakthrough in the 12-year standoff between Iran and the West, which has long feared Tehran wants to build a nuclear bomb.

Diplomats warned Friday that much work remained and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Iran's arch-foe Israel said the potential agreement posed a "grave danger" to global security.

But in a live televised address, Rouhani said it could mark a turning point for the Islamic republic's relations with the rest of the world.

"If the other side honours its promises, we will honour our promises," he said.

"New cooperation with the world -- both in the nuclear sphere and other areas -- will open a new page" for Iran, he said.

The Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who will have the final say on any deal, has not yet reacted to Thursday's announcement.

But the proposed agreement could still face opposition from Iranian hardliners against making any concessions limiting the country's nuclear programme.

Several conservative websites published comments from Mehdi Mohammadi, a political analyst, describing the deal as "in no way balanced" and parts of it as a "disaster".

- Cleric hails Iran 'victory' -

The country's powerful religious authorities lined up behind it however.

In a sermon that state media said was replicated nationwide, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani praised the agreement to worshippers in Tehran.

"This framework is great and it is a victory for us as it made the Western world accept Iran's right to pursue nuclear energy and technology," Emami-Kashani said.

Earlier, well-wishers had hailed Iran's nuclear negotiators as they returned to Tehran from the talks in Lausanne, with dozens lining the streets and carrying Iranian flags.

Crippling sanctions over Iran's nuclear ambitions have left the country's economy reeling and the announcement of the deal was greeted with celebrations.

Hundreds took to the streets of Tehran in the early hours of Friday, with drivers sounding their horns in approval, people flashing V-signs for victory and dancing while waving white handkerchiefs in a traditional Iranian celebration.

US President Barack Obama had earlier welcomed the "historic understanding" with Iran after decades of hostility, warning like other leaders that work remains to finalise a highly complex agreement by June 30.

Hostile Republicans in the US Congress, who remain suspicious of Iran's pledges, are also threatening to push for new sanctions from April 14.

And Washington's key ally Israel reacted with fury, with Netanyahu demanding that Iranian recognition of the Jewish state's right to exist be written into the deal, as he convened top officials for talks.

"This deal would pose a grave danger to the region and to the world and would threaten the very survival of the state of Israel," Netanyahu said.

"Israel will not accept an agreement which allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons."

Israel has repeatedly warned that it could take military action if threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran, though analysts say strikes are unlikely.

- 'Too early to celebrate' -

Under the outline deal, the United States and the European Union are to lift all nuclear-related sanctions on Iran once the UN atomic agency has verified that Tehran has stuck to its terms.

All past UN nuclear resolutions on Iran would also be lifted, but diplomats have warned that sanctions can be re-imposed.

The proposed limits will see Iran's stocks of highly enriched uranium cut by 98 percent for 15 years, while its unfinished Arak reactor will not produce weapons-grade plutonium.

The deal will also see Iran reduce by roughly two-thirds -- to 6,104 from around 19,000 -- the number of uranium centrifuges, which can make fuel for nuclear power but also the core of a nuclear bomb.

The so-called P5+1 group -- the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia plus Germany -- hope that the deal will make it virtually impossible for Iran to produce nuclear weapons.

Iran, one of the world's major oil producing countries, has always denied seeking the atomic bomb, saying its activities are for energy generation and research.

European Union heavyweights Germany and France warned Friday that a deal was far from done.

"It's too early to celebrate," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said following talks with his French and Polish counterparts in Wroclaw, Poland.

"There is no guarantee of successful negotiations," he said.

His caution was echoed by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who said Iran would "still have to go all the way" to a deal.

burs-mm/hc


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Lausanne (AFP) April 2, 2015
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