After almost 13 years of negotiations a deal between Iran and the P5+1 over its nuclear programme has been, if not yet signed and delivered, broadly agreed.

It is a testament to both the difficulties at hand and the desperation to make some sort of progress that the latest round of Iran talks in Lausanne continued two days beyond their original deadline of 31 March.

Journalists covering the talks are forever reliant on signs or elliptical (and not so elliptical) statements from their participants to get some idea of how things are going. This time there were few leaks, but the initial signs were positive. Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Phillip Hammond and the head of the US negotiating team, Secretary of State John Kerry were both guardedly hopeful that what Hammond called “a broad framework of understanding” could be reached before a comprehensive accord is scheduled to be signed by 30th June.

What ultimately emerged, on the evening of 2nd April, was perhaps better than anyone expected. The issue with Iran’s nuclear crisis has always been the seriousness of its outstanding issues. The major points of disagreement revolve around fundamental technological concerns about how Iran could potentially build a bomb. And then there are the political problems. The P5+1 have always insisted that Iran to set out in as much detail what it would commit to. The Iranians for their part have always wanted to keep the finer details as hazy as possible to allow for maximum wiggle (or indeed wriggle) room.

The deal, or as the US State Department described it, the Parameters for a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,that was struck—though not yet signed—seemed to address, in large part, both of these concerns. Critical to the P5+1 is the issue of uranium enrichment—Iran’s major possible route to a nuclear bomb. Iran runs around 19,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges at present, which it agreed to reduce to 6,104 with only 5,060 enriching uranium for ten years—all of them the older first generation model. This was a serious climbdown for Iran, which also agreed not to enrich uranium over 3.67 percent (85 percent or above is considered ideal for…

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