President Barack Obama announced a historic nuclear weapons deal with Iran that would limit its ability to create nuclear weapons in a nationally televised address Saturday night.
According to Obama, negotiations between Iran and the U.S. have been unsuccessful in the last decade, but the situation has improved with the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Obama said Iran and members of P5+1, a group of six countries that negotiate Iran’s nuclear foreign policy, agreed on a deal to dismantle Iran’s nuclear enrichment programs in exchange for economic sanctions to be lifted.
Although the deal’s full details have not been disclosed, Obama named key parts of Iran’s nuclear program that would be rolled back.
Specifically he said the deal requires Iran to stop certain levels of enrichment, to discontinue work at its plutonium reactor and to allow extensive inspections of its facilities. The commander in chief said while some economic sanctions would be lifted, the “broad architecture” of sanctions would still remain.
“Simply put, [the deal’s mandates] cut off Iran’s most likely paths to a bomb,” Obama said. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry explained the international community will permit Iran $4.2 billion in oil revenue, but the nation will continue to lose $25 billion in oil revenue due to economic sanctions.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, expressed doubt in Iran’s motives to follow through with the deal. Boehner said all agreements must be met with “healthy skepticism and hard questions,” according to a statement.
“Today, we have a real opportunity to achieve a comprehensive, peaceful settlement, and I believe we must test it,” Obama said.
