The P5+1 world powers and Iran struck a historic interim deal concerning Tehran's nuclear program early Sunday morning , Russia Today reported. Under the interim agreement, Tehran "will be allowed access to $4.2 billion in funds frozen " as part of financial sanctions imposed on Iran over suspicions that its nuclear program is aimed at producing an atom bomb," news reports said.
Foreign ministers from the US, Russia, UK, France, China, Germany and the EU hailed the deal as a step toward a "comprehensive solution" to the nuclear standoff between Tehran and the West. The interim deal was reached early Sunday morning in Geneva after 18 hours of negotiation, according to news reports.
"While today's announcement is just a first step, it achieves a great deal," US President Barack Obama said in a statement at the White House. "For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and key parts of the program will be rolled back," the president added.
Javad Zariff, the Iranian foreign minister, called the deal a "major success."
"Constructive engagement [and] tireless efforts by negotiating teams are to open new horizons," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani wrote on his Twitter feed shortly after the announcement on Sunday.
However Israel, the key U.S. ally, indicated great consternation over the agreement.
"What was reached in Geneva is not a historic agreement, it is a historic mistake," said Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.
"We are not satisfied to say the least. Actually we're quite disappointed with the agreement that was signed," said Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz.
Saudi Arabia was angered it was not told about the agreement until it was announced. ""We were lied to, things were hidden from us," said Nawaf Obaid, a senior advisor in the Kingdom. "The problem is not with the deal struck in Geneva but how it was done."
The details of the agreement are still being sketched as it appeared that the Russians and the U.S. had differences as to what the deal exactly entailed.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the deal accepted Tehran's right to enrich uranium.
"This deal means that we agree with the need to recognize Iran's right for peaceful nuclear energy, including the right for enrichment, with an understanding that those questions about the [Iranian nuclear program] that still remain, and the program itself, will be placed under the strictest IAEA control," Lavrov told journalists on Sunday.
However, Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters that the deal does not recognize Tehran's right to enrich nuclear fuel.
"The first step, let me be clear, does not say that Iran has a right to enrich uranium," Kerry said.
