Geneva: Iran and the six global powers have hammered out a landmark nuclear deal-the breakthrough achieved in the early hours on Sunday after seamless rounds of hard bargaining in Geneva in the teeth of a high octane Israeli campaign to scupper the agreement. Catharine Ashton, the foreign policy chief of the European Union (EU) who represented the big powers at the talks — United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — was the first to announce that the much awaited breakthrough, which was tantalizingly close to fruition even in an earlier round, had been finally achieved.
“We have reached agreement” wrote Ms Ashton on her Twitter page. Eight minutes later, her Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted a confirmation of the deal, which was signed in the Swiss city at 3 am in the morning. In essence, the agreement manifested a quid pro quo: Iran would freeze its nuclear programme for six months in return for limited sanctions relief for the same period. The six months window would give either side, room for reciprocal confidence building steps, in anticipation of a fuller agreement that would establish the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme, leading to a likely normalisation of its ties with the global powers.
The deal thrashed out in Geneva was the result of skilled and nimble diplomatic footwork, where both sides calibrated the limits to which they could compromise to achieve a breakthrough, and yet avoid a minefield of opposition that was brewing among sections of their audiences back home. Under the terms of the deal, Iran would cease uranium enrichment of 20 per cent purity, which can be a stepping stone to the development of an atomic bomb. The existing stockpile of this material would be either be diluted, or turned into oxide, so that the resulting material cannot be easily returned to its threatening original state.
Iran would be allowed to carry out 3.5 per cent enrichment, under severe constraints, which would ensure that its existing stockpile at the end of six months does not expand. Currently, Iran has a seven tonne stockpile. This can increase by another tonne due to fresh enrichment, but at the end of six months, the accumulated material should return to seven tonnes. New equipment would be installed to convert part of the additional stocks to oxide. The deal also overcame past objections from countries such as France, which wanted Iran to halt all construction at the heavy water facility at Arak, which can allow Tehran to derive Plutonium as an alternative material for a nuclear explosion. In the compromise that was struck, Iran is allowed to carry out construction activity, but is being prohibited from producing fuel that is necessary to run the heavy water reactor at the facility.
