Iranian Nuclear Accord Advances

Obama Threatens Veto of Sanctions

World powers and Iran agreed to begin implementing a pact to curb Tehran’s nuclear program on Jan. 20, setting the stage for six months of diplomacy intended to end Tehran’s atomic weapons threat, officials said.

Under Sunday’s deal, Iran will stop producing near-weapons grade nuclear fuel and start rolling back or freezing other nuclear work next week, said U.S., European and Iranian officials.

In turn, the U.S. and European Union will start easing some of their punitive economic sanctions on Iran, starting next week with suspending a ban on Iran’s trade of petrochemicals, autos and precious metals.

U.S. and European officials hailed the latest milestone as a way to peacefully contain Iran’s nuclear program, while acknowledging that failure was a real possibility given the complexity of the talks.

Still, the accord fueled political friction within the U.S. Senior U.S. lawmakers quickly criticized the deal for not going far enough to rein in Iran’s nuclear capabilities, setting up a likely political showdown between the White House and Capitol Hill in the coming weeks.

“We reached a good agreement very quickly, no one believed this could be done,” former President Hashemi Rafsanjani told Iranian media Sunday. “This is a win-win for both sides.”

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