Framework for nuclear deal tougher on Iran than expected
Although contentious issues remain, the framework of agreement on nuclear programme provides restrictive measures
On its face, the framework announced on Thursday for an agreement that limits Iran's nuclear programme goes further toward preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon than many experts expected it would, including requiring an international inspection system of unprecedented intrusiveness.
Several contentious issues, however, remain to be clarified in the final accord, scheduled to be negotiated by June 30. These include the exact process for lifting international sanctions that have devastated Iran's economy and the degree to which ending the sanctions will hinge on the Islamic republic's clarifying past research it's suspected of conducting on a missile-borne nuclear warheads.
Several experts cautioned that their analyses of the tentative accord relied on the US administration's interpretation of what Iran accepted in talks with the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China and Germany, collectively known as the P5 plus 1. They warned that the Iranians could have a different understanding of their obligations.
"I'm cautious about what the Iranian version says. The devil is in the details," said Jeffrey Lewis, an expert with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California.
Still, he and other experts who intensely follow the Iranian nuclear issue said that based on a White House fact sheet, it appeared that the tentative accord would achieve the US goal of ensuring the international community would have a year's warning if Tehran decided to produce enough uranium fuel for a single bomb, a concept known as breakout.
"If the US fact sheet corresponds to what the Iranians understand are the basics, then it's better than I expected," said George Perkovich, vice-president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "I'd like to see what the Iranian fact sheet looks like."
Other experts said they were surprised by how detailed the framework was, saying they had expected it to be a very general document or even a verbal understanding short on specifics because the Iranians had indicated that was what they wanted.