Iran will begin eliminating its nuclear stockpile on Jan. 20, after striking a deal with six world powers regarding its uranium-enrichment program, Iranian officials announced Sunday.
The United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany reached an agreement with Iran in November, saying that they will ease international sanctions in exchange for proof that the country is not going to develop nuclear weapons.
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As part of the deal, Iran will start destroying some of its uranium stockpile on Jan. 20. That will be the official start date for the six-month interim deal, which is designed to give negotiators time to reach a more sweeping agreement. In the meantime, Iran will enforce a series of measures to freeze its uranium-enrichment program.
For U.S. officials, Sunday's announcement is an important step toward making sure Iran doesn't develop a nuclear bomb.
"We've taken a critical, significant step forward towards reaching a verifiable resolution that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement. "As of that day, for the first time in almost a decade, Iran’s nuclear program will not be able to advance, and parts of it will be rolled back, while we start negotiating a comprehensive agreement to address the international community’s concerns about Iran’s program."
As part of the agreement, Iran will stop the enrichment of uranium above 5% purity, neutralize its stockpile of uranium enriched at 20% purity, stop installing any new centrifuge or build new enrichment facilities, and will give inspectors daily access to its already existing nuclear facilities, according to The New York Times.
In exchange, the United States and its negotiating partners will ease economic sanctions on Iran, and provide "limited and targeted relief." Iran will also gain access to $4.2 billion in "restricted Iranian assets," which "will be released in regular installments throughout the six months," Kerry said in his statement.
Despite this progress, U.S. President Barack Obama has expressed cautious optimism.
"I have no illusions about how hard it will be to achieve this objective, but for the sake of our national security and the peace and security of the world, now is the time to give diplomacy a chance to succeed," Obama said in a statement, according to USA Today.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi also said this deal is just the first step.
"After the first step is taken, then in a short period of time we will again start our contacts for resumption of negotiations for the implementation of the final step," he said, according to Reuters. "We don't trust them ... Each step has been designed in a way that allows us to stop carrying out our commitments if we see the other party is not fulfilling its commitments."
In the past, Iran has consistently denied trying to develop a nuclear bomb, arguing that its enrichment efforts were exclusively aimed at developing nuclear energy. Ahead of the November deal, Iran launched an aggressive campaign in support of its program, which included an unprecedented website in English.
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