GENEVA — The United States and Iran tentatively stepped back from looming confrontation yesterday, reaching an agreement with other major powers that would greatly reduce Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium and reset the diplomatic clock for a solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The outcome, which President Obama in Washington called a “constructive beginning,” came after 7½ hours of talks on the outskirts of Geneva that included the highest-level bilateral meeting between the two countries since relations were severed three decades ago after the Iranian revolution.
But the difficulties that lie ahead were illustrated when the chief Iranian negotiator, Saeed Jalili, held a triumphant news conference at which he denounced “media terrorism.” He insisted that Iran has always fully met its international commitments, and refused even to acknowledge a question from an Israeli reporter.
The sudden show of cooperation by Tehran reduces for now the threat of additional sanctions, which has been made repeatedly by the United States and others over the past week following the revelation of a secret Iranian nuclear facility. The United States will need to keep the pressure on Iran to avoid being dragged into a process without end.
Under the tentative deal, Iran would give up most of its enriched uranium to Russia in order for it to be converted into material for a medical-research reactor in Tehran. Iran also agreed to let international inspectors visit the newly disclosed uranium-enrichment facility in Qom within two weeks, and then to attend another meeting with negotiators from the major powers by month’s end.
The series of agreements struck at the meeting was in itself unusual because, in the past, the Iranian negotiators have said they would get back with an answer — and then fail to do so.
US and other diplomats present at the talks said the tone of the Iranian delegation privately was not different from the public posture, with much of the morning devoted to lengthy exchanges of official talking points.
But they said the mood shifted subtly after the participants broke for lunch. The chief US negotiator, Undersecretary of State William Burns, spent 45 minutes in a small sitting room with Jalili.
The outcome of the talks was immediately criticized by former UN Ambassador John Bolton, who, as a Bush administration official, balked at George W. Bush’s efforts to entice Iran into negotiations.
“They’ve now got the United States ensnared in negotiations,” he said. “This is like the movie ‘Groundhog Day.’ “