Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday his country's nuclear deal with major powers would open a new chapter of cooperation with the outside world after years of sanctions, predicting the gradual elimination of mutual mistrust.
He added in a live televised speech that Iran would abide by its commitments under the agreement as long as world powers did so too, and asserted the accord protected gains made by Tehran in a nuclear program the West suspects is intended to develop an atomic weapon. Iran says the work is purely peaceful
"Today is the end to acts of tyranny against our nation and the start of cooperation with the world," he said. "This is a reciprocal deal. If they stick to it, we will. The Iranian nation has always observed its promises and treaties."
In remarks that often seemed aimed at a domestic audience, he suggested the deal reached after marathon talks between the OPEC oil producer and world powers would lay the foundations for an improvement in an economy battered by years of sanctions.
He recalled that his election in 2013 was made possible by voters who "clearly said they want a government that protects the nuclear program and brings prosperity to the country as the same time."
"We didn't ask for charity. We asked for fair, just and win-win negotiations," he said. "Today after 23 months of negotiations with world powers we reached a turning point."
Rouhani also urged neighbouring countries to ignore what he called propaganda by its arch foe Israel, saying Iran had a shared interest in the stability of the region.
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, and which Israel called an "historic surrender".
Under the deal, sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and United Nations would 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.
Reaching a deal is a major policy victory for both U.S. President Barack Obama and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist elected two years ago on a vow to reduce the diplomatic isolation of a country of 77 million people.
But 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".
While the main negotiations were between the United States and Iran, the four other U.N. Security Council permanent members Britain, China, France and Russia are also parties to the deal, as is Germany.
"All the hard work has paid off and we sealed a deal. God bless our people," an Iranian diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal "a bad mistake of historic proportions".
"Iran will get a jackpot, a cash bonanza of hundreds of billions of dollars, which will enable it to continue to pursue its aggression and terror in the region and in the world," he said. "Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons."
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely called the deal an "historic surrender". She said on Twitter that Israel would "act with all means to try and stop the agreement being ratified", a clear threat to try to use its influence to block it in the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress.
Congress has 60 days to review the deal, and if it votes to disapprove of it, Obama can veto the rejection. It would require two thirds of lawmakers to override such a veto, which means some of Obama's fellow Democrats would have to rebel against one of the signature achievements of their president in order to kill the deal.
REUTERS
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