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Kerry appeases Israel on Iran deal

Press TV – November 24, 2013

US Secretary of State John Kerry appeases an infuriated Israel after Iran and six world powers seal a nuclear agreement following a marathon negotiating session in Geneva.

“The comprehensive agreement will make the world safer … and Israel safer,” Kerry told reporters in Geneva on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned Washington and its Western allies that a diplomatic deal with Tehran would be “a historic blunder.”

The hawkish premier loudly criticized the six-month deal, saying the world powers were giving up too much to the Islamic Republic.

Kerry said any differences between the United States and Israel on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program were simply a matter of “judgment” and “calculation.”

The top US diplomat added that he had kept Netanyahu apprised of the state of play in the nuclear talks, which kicked off Wednesday.

“I talk to him several times a week,” he said. “I talked to him in the last day about this very issue.”

US President Barack Obama welcomed the historic nuclear deal as “an important first step toward a comprehensive solution.”

The first step allows for “time and space” for more talks and the deal represents “a new path toward a world that is more secure,” Obama said late Saturday in Washington.

A statement released by the White House also said Iran agreed to provide “increased transparency and intrusive monitoring of its nuclear program.”

Kerry said that as part of the deal, “Iran has agreed to suspend all enrichment of uranium above 5 percent.” He also said that the Islamic Republic “will not commission or fuel the Arak reactor,” a “heavy water” plant in central Iran.

In exchange, the United States and its allies have agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions and offer access to a portion of the revenue that Tehran has been denied through these sanctions. No additional sanctions will be imposed.

According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the country will receive access to USD 4.2 billion in foreign exchange.

The recognition of Iran’s right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes was one of the major sticking points in the talks.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters on Sunday that the agreement “covers several important domains, the most important of which is the recognition of the right to enrichment.”

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