VIENNA — Iran and six major world powers reached a nuclear deal 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 toward a “more hopeful world” and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said it proved that “constructive engagement works.” But Israel pledged to do what it could to halt what it called a “historic surrender.”
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.
The agreement will now be debated in 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 to long-term curbs on a nuclear program that the West has suspected was aimed at creating a nuclear bomb.
Iran will mothball for at least a decade the majority of its centrifuges used to enrich uranium and sharply reduce its low-enriched uranium stockpile.
The agreement is a political triumph 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 80 million people.
Both face skepticism from powerful hard-liners at home in nations that referred to each other as “the Great Satan” and a member of the “Axis of Evil.”
“Today is the end to acts of tyranny against our nation and the start of cooperation with the world,” Rouhani said in a televised address. “This is a reciprocal deal. If they stick to it, we will. The Iranian nation has always observed its promises and treaties.”
Delighted Iranians danced in the streets of Tehran after the announcement of a deal they hope will end years of sanctions and isolation.
For Obama, the diplomacy with Iran, begun in secret more than two years ago, ranks alongside his normalization of ties with Cuba as landmarks in a legacy of reconciliation with foes that tormented his predecessors for decades.
The Republican-controlled Congress has 60 days to review the accord, but if it votes to reject it, Obama can use his veto, which can be overridden only by two-thirds of lawmakers in both houses. That means dozens of Obama’s fellow Democrats would have to rebel against one of their president’s signature achievements to kill it, an unlikely prospect.
The Senate was not expected to vote on the deal before September.
Republicans lined up to denounce the deal. Presidential candidate Lindsey Graham, a senator from South Carolina, called it a terrible deal that would make matters worse. Sen. Marco Rubio suggested he would reintroduce sanctions if elected to the White House next year.
Leading Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called the deal “an important step that puts the lid on Iran’s nuclear programs.”
Reactions by Maine’s congressional delegation to Obama’s announced nuclear deal with Iran ran from the celebratory to the cautionary, as the state’s senators and representatives largely fell in line with their partisan counterparts.
“The best way to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program is through a comprehensive, international agreement like this one,” Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said in a prepared statement Tuesday. “We will get a chance to talk about the details in the days ahead, but I hope my colleagues in Congress don’t let partisan politics stand in the way of approving what could be a historic deal to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.”
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, the most senior member of Maine’s delegation, and freshman U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, both Republicans, used stern language Tuesday to criticize the deal.
Poliquin touted his support for Israel, which called the deal “a bad mistake of historic proportions.”
“Earlier this year, I attended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress,” Poliquin said. “I remain committed in standing firm with one of our strongest allies in the Middle East. We should stand with Israel, opposing aggression from Iran — a state sponsor of terrorism.”
Iran’s confirmed and suspected links to armed militant groups throughout the Middle East also caused heartburn for Collins, who said the “windfall” of lifted sanctions in Iran would only fuel further sectarian conflict in the region.
“A verifiable diplomatic agreement that prevents Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and dismantles its nuclear infrastructure is the desired outcome; however, it is far from clear that this agreement will accomplish those goals,” Collins wrote.
Maine’s independent U.S. senator, Angus King, said he welcomed the deal and looked forward to “thoroughly examining the details to determine whether or not the deal contains the necessary provisions to ensure that Iran cannot develop nuclear weapons capability.”
King was one of the original co-sponsors of legislation to give Congress a say in the deal.
“As I have long said, this deal cannot be based on trust,” King said. “It must be based on strict enforcement and verification provisions, and a responsible review of the deal by Congress is a critical part of that process.”
Still, Washington’s friends in the region were furious, especially Israel, whose prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has cultivated a close relationship with Obama’s Republican opponents in Congress.
“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.”
His deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, denounced a “historic surrender” and said Israel would “act with all means to try and stop the agreement being ratified,” a clear threat to use its influence to try to block it in Congress.
In phone call with Netanyahu, Obama underscored the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security, the White House said.
It will probably be months before Iran receives the benefits from the lifting of sanctions because of the need to verify the deal’s fulfillment. Once implementation is confirmed, Tehran will immediately gain access to around $100 billion in frozen assets, and can step up oil exports that have been slashed by almost two-thirds.
The deal finally emerged after nearly three weeks of intense negotiation between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif — unthinkable for decades, since Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
“Today could have been the end of hope on this issue, but now we are starting a new chapter of hope,” Zarif, who studied in the United States and developed a warm rapport with Kerry, told a news conference.
Kerry said, “This is the good deal we have sought.”
Tehran has long denied seeking a nuclear weapon and has insisted on the right to nuclear technology for peaceful means. Obama never ruled out military force if negotiations failed, and said on Tuesday that future presidents would still have that option if Iran quit the agreement.
Obama said Iran had accepted a “snapback” mechanism, under which sanctions would be reinstated if it violated the deal. A U.N. weapons embargo is to remain in place for five years and a ban on buying missile technology will remain for eight years.
Alongside the main deal, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, announced an agreement with Iran to resolve its own outstanding issues by the end of this year. The main deal depends on the IAEA being able to inspect Iranian nuclear sites and on Iran answering its questions about possible military aims of previous research.
For Iran, the end of sanctions could bring a rapid economic boom by lifting restrictions that have shrunk its economy by about 20 percent, according to U.S. estimates. The prospect of a deal has already helped push down global oil prices because of the possibility that Iranian supply could return to the market.
Oil prices tumbled more than a dollar on Tuesday after the deal was reached.