Lausanne - Iran and world powers scored a major breakthrough with a framework deal aimed at stopping Tehran getting nuclear weapons, but major work is needed to finalise the potentially historic accord, analysts said Friday.
In addition, those alarmed by what was agreed, not least US President Barack Obama's Republican opponents, may yet scupper the entire process before the June 30 deadline to sign on the dotted line.
"This accomplishment is not final. It is as fragile as the forces against it are formidable," Ali Vaez from the International Crisis Group told AFP.
"A lot of thorny issues will have to be resolved in the next three months."
Iran and six major powers late on Thursday agreed after 18 months of talks, culminating in a gruelling marathon of sleepless nights in a Swiss hotel, the main parameters of what the final deal will look like.
According to the US, Iran has promised to slash its uranium enrichment capacity -- which makes nuclear fuel but also the core of a bomb -- by two-thirds and reduce its enriched uranium stock by 98 percent.
Iran will also change the design of a reactor under construction at Arak so that it cannot produce plutonium, the alternative to uranium for a bomb, and submit to ultra-tight UN inspections.
This, the US says, will extend the "breakout" time needed to make one bomb's worth of nuclear material to one year and make any dash to get the bomb easily detectable, giving the world ample time to react to any such move by Iran.
AFP
