By BBC
Iran has agreed to curb some of its
nuclear activities in return for about $7bn (£4.3bn) in sanctions relief, after
days of intense talks in Geneva.
US President Barack Obama welcomed the deal, saying it included "substantial limitations which will help prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon".
Iran agreed to give better access to inspectors and halt some of its work on uranium enrichment.
President Hassan Rouhani said the deal recognised Iran's nuclear "rights".
But he repeated, in a nationwide broadcast, that his country would never seek a nuclear weapon.Tehran denies repeated claims by Western governments that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. It insists it must be allowed to enrich uranium to use in power stations.
Analysis
The immediate origins of this deal date to 14 June 2013, when Hassan Rouhani was elected president of Iran. Mr Rouhani promised to end his country's repeated confrontations with the outside world, beginning with the argument over its nuclear programme.
To bring about a deal, Mr Rouhani pursued two key policies. Firstly, he secured the public backing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his diplomatic efforts. Secondly, the new president and his foreign minister broke precedent and pursued direct high-level contact with Iran's long time enemy, the US.
If there is to be a lasting nuclear agreement, it may spring from a reconciliation between these two countries.
The deal comes just months after Iran elected Mr Rouhani
- regarded as a relative moderate - as its new president, in place of the
hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
It has also been backed by Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
After four days of negotiations, representatives of the so-called P5+1 group of nations - the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany - reached an agreement with Iran in the early hours of Sunday.
The specifics of the deal have yet to be released, but negotiators indicated the broad outlines:
- Iran will stop enriching uranium beyond 5%, the level at which it can be used for weapons research, and reduce its stockpile of uranium enriched beyond this point
- Iran will give greater access to inspectors including daily access at Natanz and Fordo nuclear sites
- In return, there will be no new nuclear-related sanctions for six months
- Iran will also receive sanctions relief worth about $7bn (£4.3bn) on sectors including precious metals
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the agreement would make the region safer for its allies, including Israel.
But the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet it was a "historic mistake" and that his country reserved the right to defend itself.
"Today the world became a much more dangerous place because the most dangerous regime in the world made a significant step in obtaining the most dangerous weapons in the world," he said.
The Israeli comments came as it was revealed that the US and Iran had held a series of face-to-face talks over the past year that were kept secret even from their allies.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it was an opportunity for the "removal of any doubts about the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme".
But he insisted that Iran had not given up its right to enrich uranium.
"We believe that the current agreement, the current plan of action as we call it, in two distinct places has a very clear reference to the fact that Iranian enrichment programme will continue and will be a part of any agreement, now and in the future," he said.
The US denied any such right had been conceded, while UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the agreement was "good news for the whole world".
'Significant agreement'
The US state department gave more details of the deal, insisting that most sanctions would remain in place.
Restrictions on Iran's petrochemical exports and some other sectors would be suspended, bringing in $1.5bn in revenue.
But Mr Obama warned that if Iran fail to keep its commitments, "we will turn off the relief and ratchet up the pressure".
This deal may be the most significant agreement between the world powers and Iran for a decade, says the BBC's James Reynolds in Geneva.
Negotiators had been working since Wednesday to reach an agreement that was acceptable to both sides.
As hopes of a deal grew stronger, foreign ministers of the P5+1 joined them in Geneva.
But it only became clear that a breakthrough had been made in Geneva shortly before 03:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Sunday.
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