Araz News:  After two weeks of negotiations, four deadline extensions and a night ofmarathon discussions, Iran and the six world powers will declare a historic nuclear deal in a matter of hours.

Iranian and Western diplomats confirmed Tuesday morning that a formal agreement had been reached. At 11:30 A.M. Israel time, the foreign ministers of Iran, the EU, U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany convened for a concluding session at the United Nations headquarters in Vienna. Following the meeting currently underway, the foreign ministers will then announce they have reached an agreement.

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini are expected to read a joint statement on the highlights of the agreement. The Iranian delegation and representatives of the six world powers will then hold separate press conferences.

The 500-page nuclear deal contains five schedules pertaining to each key component, which will be published shortly after the announcement made by Zarif and Mogherini.

A senior diplomat said the landmark deal includes a compromise between Washington and Tehran that would allow UN inspectors to press for visits to Iranian military sites as part of their monitoring duties.

But access at will to any site would not necessarily be granted and even if so, could be delayed, a condition that critics of the deal are sure to seize on as possibly giving Tehran time to cover any sign of non-compliance with its commitments.

Under the deal, Tehran would have the right to challenge the UN request and an arbitration board composed of Iran and the six world powers that negotiated with it would have to decide on the issue.

Still, such an arrangement would be a notable departure from assertions by top Iranian officials that their country would never allow the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency into such sites. Iran has argued that such visits by the IAEA would be a cover for spying on its military secrets.

Western diplomats said a UN arms embargo would remain in place for five years and UN missile sanctions would stay in place for eight years.

Iran’s willingness to expose past military nuclear activity to the IAEA will be a condition for the removal of some international sanctions. Iran has pledged to provide UN inspectors answers to any suspicions concerning their military program by the end of 2015.

Further, Iran has agreed to allow inspectors to visit the Parchin military base, where Iran is suspected to have experimented with nuclear weapon production. UN inspectors will be allowed to collect information and evidence from Iranian nuclear scientists during this visit.

Reuters said that if the deal is agreed, a UN Security Council resolution on it would ideally be adopted in July and the steps to be taken by both sides – including Iranian limitations on its nuclear program and relief from sanctions on Iran – will begin in the first half of 2016.

Iran’s demand for complete lifting of an arms embargo – which would enable them to acquire, sell and provide weapons without any restriction – was one of the controversial points delaying the announcement of an agreement. Russia and China, considered the major arms suppliers to Iran, support this demand.

However, the U.S. firmly opposes this due to fears that a lifted embargo would legitimize Iran supplying weapons to the Assad regime in Syria andHezbollah in Lebanon. The U.S. has made it clear that they would be willing to temporarily and gradually lift the embargo for a few years, depending on the successful application of the nuclear deal.

A map of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

via haaretz