Israel seeks to clarify details of Iran curbs

Israel will send a team to the US next week to discuss details of the deal that curbs Iran’s nuclear programme, as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the agreement must dismantle Tehran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon.

Plans for the Israeli team’s visit to Washington were agreed in a telephone conversation between Mr Netanyahu and US president Barack Obama on Sunday night.

'Historic mistake'
The Israeli leader, who described the agreement reached in Geneva on Sunday as a "historic mistake", said yesterday that the deal agreement had to bring about one outcome: "the dismantling of Iran's military nuclear capability".

Israeli national security adviser Yossi Cohen will lead the team on the trip to Washington.

“I would be happy if I could join those voices around the world that are praising the Geneva agreement,” said Mr Netanyahu. “It is true that the international pressure which we applied was partly successful and has led to a better result than what was originally planned, but this is still a bad deal. It reduces the pressure on Iran without receiving anything tangible in return, and the Iranians who laughed all the way to the bank are themselves saying that this deal has saved them.”

The agreement reached between Iran and world powers including the US, China and Russia, in a deal the US maintains will substantially limit Tehran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon.

The US says that the deal, agreed in return for $7 billion in sanctions relief, limits Iran’s facilities to enrich uranium only to a level for use in nuclear reactors for the purposes of generating energy.

Iran must also curtail the building of new centrifuges that enrich uranium and halt essential work on a reactor being built at Arak that could be a source of plutonium that could create a nuclear bomb.

Saudi Arabia, Iran’s Middle Eastern rival, cautiously welcomed the deal, saying that it “could be a first step towards a comprehensive solution for Iran’s nuclear programme if there are good intentions”.

British foreign secretary William Hague said that the deal was only a “first step”, telling MPs that world leaders were “right to test to the full Iran’s readiness to act in good faith”.

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said some European Union sanctions against Iran could be lifted as early as next month under the terms of the nuclear agreement with world powers.

Within the United States, Republicans have also voiced concerns about the deal, saying that the agreement will in fact help Iran’s ambition to develop a nuclear weapon.

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Republican member of the armed forces committee, called for relief of sanctions only to be on offer if Iran dismantled its plutonium reactor.

'Murderous regime'
"We're dealing with people who are not only untrustworthy, this is a murderous regime that murders their own people, creates chaos and mayhem throughout the whole world, the largest sponsor of terrorism," he said in an interview on CNN.

“This deal doesn’t represent the fact that we’re dealing with the most thuggish people in the whole world.”

Republicans pointed to the case of North Korea and its broken promise not to develop a nuclear reactor.

“This agreement shows other rogue states that wish to go nuclear that you can obfuscate, cheat and lie for a decade, and eventually the United States will tire and drop key demands,” said Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.