Foreign Secretary welcomes agreement on key parameters for Iran nuclear deal
The UK, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United States, the EU and Iran have agreed parameters of comprehensive deal on Iran’s nuclear programme, the Foreign Secretary announced today.
The Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said:
We have agreed the key parameters of a comprehensive deal on Iran’s nuclear programme. This includes Iranian agreement to restrict its programme by limiting its enrichment capacity, level and stockpile for specified durations. Research and development will be conducted within agreed bounds. Iran has also agreed to allow greater oversight of its activities. A comprehensive deal within these parameters will provide reassurance that the programme is peaceful. In return, Iran will receive significant economic and financial sanctions relief including the termination of all UN Security Council Resolutions.
This is well beyond what many of us thought possible even 18 months ago and a good basis for what I believe could be a very good deal. But there is still more work to do. The fine detail of any deal will be very important, in particular specifics of oversight measures and mechanisms for handling UN Security Council resolutions. Diplomats and technical experts from all sides will work intensively over the coming weeks to finalise the detail by the end of June. Sanctions will remain in place until the comprehensive deal is agreed and implemented.
Talks were extremely tough. We always said we would never agree a bad deal. This outcome is testament to the persistence and willingness of all sides to be flexible in finding solutions to seemingly intractable problems. It demonstrates what can be achieved when international partners work together in pursuit of a common goal.
We will continue to have our differences on many other issues with Iran, including on some key regional issues. But a comprehensive deal will improve confidence, trust and dialogue on all sides, and most importantly, avoid a nuclear arms race in the region.
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