Iran to activate nuclear deal

World powers and Iran were due to start implementing a landmark deal on Monday curbing Teheran's nuclear program, amid hopes that it will pave the way for a broad settlement of a decade-old standoff and ease fears of a new Middle East war.

If, as expected, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog confirms that Iran is meeting its end of the agreement, the European Union and the United States will suspend some economic sanctions.

Iran said it expected to suspend its higher-grade uranium enrichment around noon local time, when talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency are likely to have ended, the country's Fars news agency reported.

The mutual concessions are scheduled to last six months, during which time six powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - aim to negotiate a final accord defining the permissible scope of Iran's nuclear activity.

Western governments want such an agreement to lay to rest their concerns that Iran could produce an atomic weapon. Teheran is seeking an end to painful economic sanctions that have severely damaged its oil-dependent economy.

The interim accord, struck on Nov 24 after years of on-off diplomacy, marks the first time in a decade that Teheran has limited its nuclear work, which it says has no military goals, and the first time the West has eased economic pressure on Iran.

"It is an important agreement and I hope that this will now give us an opportunity to move forward and to look at a more comprehensive agreement shortly," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.

Ashton coordinates diplomatic contacts with Iran on behalf of the six nations and plans to visit Teheran in the coming weeks as part of her effort to bring an end to the nuclear dispute.

Under the deal, Iran is obligated to suspend enrichment of uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, a short technical step away from the level needed for nuclear weapons.

It also has to dilute or convert its pile of this higher-grade uranium, and cease work on the Arak heavy water reactor, which could provide plutonium for bombs.

In return, it will be able to retrieve $4.2 billion in oil revenues frozen in overseas accounts, and resume trade in petrochemicals, gold and other precious metals.

The US government estimates the value of sanctions relief in total at about $7 billion, although some diplomats say much will depend on the extent to which Western companies will now seek to re-enter the Iranian market.

Washington has made clear its view that it is premature for industry to start doing business with Iran again, as most of the sanctions remain in place for now.

Mired in mistrust

The preliminary accord appeared to arrest a drift toward regional war during which the US and Israel have both refused to rule out military action against Iranian nuclear sites if the matter cannot be resolved by diplomacy.

Western diplomats, as well as many independent nuclear experts, see it as an important first step that offers a rare chance to finally resolve the nuclear dispute.

Last year's election of a relative moderate, Hassan Rouhani, as Iranian president led to a thaw in ties with the West after years of confrontation and hostile rhetoric.

But Israel, which is believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, has branded the deal a historic mistake as it does not dismantle Teheran's uranium enrichment program.

Mark Dubowitz, head of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington and a proponent of tough sanctions on Iran, said that by providing economic relief, the West will lose future bargaining power.

"The interim deal does nothing over the next 12 months to prevent Iran from proceeding with the nuclear-weapon and ballistic-missile research," he said.

"Ahead of final negotiations, Teheran will be in a stronger position to block peaceful Western efforts to dismantle its military-nuclear program."

(China Daily 01/21/2014 page11)