Iran deal reached, Obama hails step towards ‘more hopeful world’

Iran and six major world powers reached a nuclear deal on Tuesday, capping more than a decade of negotiations with an agreement that could transform the Middle East.

U.S. President Barack Obama hailed a step towards a “more hopeful world”, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said it proved that “constructive engagement works”. But Israel said it would do what it could to kill a deal that it called an “historic surrender”.

The agreement will now be debated in the U.S. Congress, but Obama said he would veto any measure to block it.

“This deal offers an opportunity to move in a new direction,” Obama said. “We should seize it.”

Under the deal, sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and United Nations will be lifted in return for Iran agreeing long-term curbs on a nuclear program that the West has suspected was aimed at creating a nuclear bomb.

The agreement is a momentous political victory for both Obama, who has long promised to reach out to historic enemies, and Rouhani, a pragmatist elected two years ago on a vow to reduce the isolation of his nation of almost 80 million people.

Both leaders face scepticism from powerful hardliners at home, after decades of enmity between nations that referred to each other as “the Great Satan” and a member of the “Axis of Evil”.

Rouhani was quick to present the deal as a step on the road towards a wider goal of international cooperation: “With this unnecessary source: Reuters