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Geneva accord first step at trust building: Iran president

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IANS Tehran
Last Updated : Nov 24 2013 | 3:55 PM IST

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday that the Geneva agreement is the first step towards building confidence between Iran and the world powers.

By this agreement, the world powers recognised Iran's nuclear rights. Iran possesses the right to uranium enrichment under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, said the Iranian president.

"The nature of (Geneva) agreement was a success for Iran's negotiating team," Xinhua quoted Marzieh Afkham, Iranian foreign ministry spokeswoman, as saying.

"The (uranium) enrichment of the Islamic republic has been recognised," said the spokeswoman, adding that preserving the redlines in the talks, including the uranium enrichment, is an "achievement" for Iran.

The agreement between the world's major powers and Iran aims to rein in its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.

According to the White House, Iran has been committed to halting enrichment above five percent and neutralising its stockpile of nearly 20 percent uranium by means of dilution or conversion.

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Iran has committed not to install more centrifuges, halt work at its plutonium reactor at Arak, and allow inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency daily access to its enrichment facilities at Natanz and Fordow, the White House said.

With this agreement, the removal of sanctions has started and no new sanctions will be imposed against Iran, said the Iranian official.

The first step has been taken in resolving the nuclear issue of the country, the official said, adding that for Iran, the objective of the negotiations was a win-win game.

Although, there lies a long road ahead for achieving final agreement, "balanced steps" by both the sides could ultimately result in "the total removal of the sanctions (against Iran) and could secure all the Iranians' rights", said Afkham.

The agreement was reached after intense negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group -- the five UN Security Council permanent members, namely Britain, China, France, Russia and the US, plus Germany.

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First Published: Nov 24 2013 | 3:06 PM IST

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