| CNN | - |
(CNN)
-- Save the date: Iran has pledged to start eliminating some of its
uranium stockpile on January 20, the White House said Sunday.
Iran to start eliminating uranium stockpile January 20, White House says
updated 1:46 PM EST, Sun January 12, 2014
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- On January 20, Iran will start eliminating higher levels of enriched uranium
- Kerry: "Iran's nuclear program will not be able to advance" for first time in 10 years
- Obama vows to veto any laws enacting new sanctions during negotiations with Iran
That gives an official start time for the six-month interim deal with Iran, which was first announced in November.
"As of that day, for the
first time in almost a decade, Iran's nuclear program will not be able
to advance, and parts of it will be rolled back, while we start
negotiating a comprehensive agreement to address the international
community's concerns about Iran's program," U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry said in a statement Sunday.
Iranian officials also confirmed the start date for the deal, state media reported.
As part of the agreement,
Iran has agreed to start eliminating its stockpile of higher levels of
enriched uranium, to dismantle some infrastructure that makes
higher-level uranium enrichment possible, and not to start up additional
centrifuges.
Representatives from the
United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency will also monitor Iran's nuclear
facilities and make sure the country is taking the required steps as
part of the deal.
In exchange, some sanctions against Iran will be eased as part of what the White House calls "modest relief."
"The $4.2 billion in
restricted Iranian assets that Iran will gain access to as part of the
agreement will be released in regular installments throughout the six
months," Kerry said. "The final installment will not be available to
Iran until the very last day."
But there's a bipartisan
push in Congress to tighten, rather than ease, sanctions on Iran. U.S.
President Barack Obama made it clear Sunday that he was pushing back.
"Imposing additional
sanctions now will only risk derailing our efforts to resolve this issue
peacefully, and I will veto any legislation enacting new sanctions
during the negotiation," Obama said in a written statement.
Iranian lawmakers have
threatened to boost uranium enrichment levels if the United States
imposes more sanctions against the country.
The nuclear deal struck
in November with representatives from Iran, the United States, Britain,
China, Russia, France and Germany has been widely hailed as a successful interim measure to stave off an unwanted conflict over Tehran's nuclear program.
But after initially
celebrating a diplomatic success, Iran has reportedly lashed out at the
United States for making public a modified version of the agreement that
Tehran said did not reflect its interpretation.
It took three rounds of
meetings with technical experts to hammer out the details of
implementing the deal, European Union High Representative Catherine
Ashton said in a statement Sunday.
Iranian Deputy Foreign
Minister Abbas Araqchi announced the deal's start date at a press
conference Sunday, saying that his country would stop 20% uranium
enrichment at that time, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency
reported.
CNN's Kevin Liptak, Jamie Crawford, Elise Labott, Linday Isaac, Chelsea Carter and Jim Sciutto contributed to this report.
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