Roundup: Iran nuclear agreement formally announced, Kerry says a good deal

Iran and six world major countries have adopted an agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue, European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini formally announced here on Tuesday.

"What we are announcing today is not just a deal, it is a good deal ... today is a historical day," Mogherini told a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Ensuring "Iran's nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful," the two diplomats said "Iran confirms that Iran under no circumstances will seek or acquire nuclear weapons."

The nuclear deal reached with the six world major countries will help build confidence, Zarif said.

"The deal will help building confidence between Iran and the powers," Zarif said.

The comprehensive agreement was clinched between Iran and the P5+1 group, namely Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany, after more than two weeks of tough bargain in the capital city of Austria.

The text of the deal is around 100 pages with five annexes, which specify key areas of the Iranian nuclear issue, including sanction relief and action plan, nuclear technology cooperation, the committee of the monitoring of the implementation, capping of Iran's nuclear capacity, and draft of UN Security Council resolution.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the agreed Iranian nuclear deal is a good deal to bar Iran from abstaining a nuclear weapon.

"This is the good deal that we have sought," Kerry said, saying the deal would secure that Tehran would not obtain a nuclear weapon under international monitor regime.

There are many criticism in the United States accusing Kerry and his team of backing off from U.S. interest at the negotiation table, saying the deal would not permanently block Iran's path to a nuclear bomb.

The comprehensive Iranian nuclear deal is to be presented to the UN security council in the next few days, announced Mogherini on behalf of the P5+1 group.

"Our quarrel has never been with Iranian people," Kerry said, referring the western sanctions imposed on Iran which hammered the country's economy while also has negative impact of Iranian people's live.

The deal would specify that the related UN resolutions, and economic and financial sanctions will be terminated all at once under a UN resolution and in an agreed framework, Iranian media reported.

In terms of the agreement, Kerry said U.S. would not only concerns about the interest of its own country but also the other states especially Israel and gulf states.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the deal heralds new era of cooperation with world in his remarks after the deal is agreed.

"We do not seek WMDs (Weapon of mass distructions), nor exerting pressure on regional states. We call for greater brotherhood, unity and further expansion of ties," he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif said the deal is not a ceiling but a solid foundation. "We must now begin to build on it," he said.

Iran and UN nuclear agency agreed to cooperate to resolve Tehran's past suspicious nuclear activities including the Parchin issue, a suspicious military site of Iran, the agency said by an email on Tuesday.

Under the road-map, Iran would address the IAEA's concern over the so-called possible military dimensions of its nuclear plan, including resolve the Parchin issue, a military site with IAEA suspected Iran might carried out explosive test relevant to the nuclear weapon plan.

Western economic and financial sanctions will be terminated all at in the beginning of implementation phase, Iranian media reported on Tuesday.

In the past 18 months marathon negotiation, Iran and the P5+1 group have resolved many tough issues which were once seen as an impossible task to be done, such as capping Iran's nuclear capacity, giving greater transparency of Tehran's atomic plan. Endit