Iran's nuclear program frozen as sanctions are eased Iran will suspend its nuclear program in return for an easing of international sanctions under a historic agreement forged in the early hours of Sunday morning in Geneva. In Washington, US President Barack Obama made a late-night statement from the White House, saying: "For the first time in nearly a decade we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and key parts of the program will be rolled back." Iran's Foreign Minister and chief negotiator, Javad Zarif, said it was important to see the agreement as an opportunity to end an "unnecessary crisis" and remove any doubts about the "exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program." He insisted Iran retained the right to enrich uranium. Happy for now: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (left) and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. Under the six-month long interim deal, Iran has agreed to stop building nuclear facilities and refining uranium to weapons-grade level, and to dilute the stockpile it has already built up. It will also allow international inspections of its nuclear facilities, but it will keep most of its infrastructure in place. "These are substantial limitations which will help prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon," Mr Obama said. Simply put, they cut off Iran's most likely paths to a bomb. Meanwhile, this first step will create time and space over the next six months for more negotiations to fully address our comprehensive concerns about the Iranian program. Mr Obama said that as President and Commander in Chief, "I have a profound responsibility to try to resolve our differences peacefully, rather than rush towards conflict." And he warned that if Iran failed to keep its commitments, "we will turn off the relief and ratchet up the pressure." Negotiations, chaired by European Union representative Catherine Ashton, included the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany with Iran. They agreed to loosen some of the crippling sanctions imposed on Iran, giving it access to $US1.5 billion ($1.64 billion) in additional export revenues in the next six months. The parties appeared to have avoided a sticking point in the talks - Iran's insistence on its right to enrich uranium - simply by avoiding the issue in the interim agreement. Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz, responsible for monitoring Iran's nuclear program, said there was no reason for the world to be celebrating, and that the deal was based on "Iranian deception and self-delusion." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier said Iran had essentially been given an "unbelievable Christmas present - the capacity to maintain this [nuclear] breakout capability for practically no concessions at all," Reuters reported. America's other key regional ally, Saudi Arabia, has been equally critical of any deal throughout the negotiations. In a 5am press conference held after 18 hours of talks in Geneva, US Secretary of State John Kerry emphasised the agreement did not recognise such a right, and Iranian officials have said their right need not be explicitly articulated. Although the deal is only interim, some American commentators have noted it as a significant historical milestone given that the US and Iran had broken diplomatic ties nearly 35 years ago after the US embassy in Tehran was stormed. Robin Wright, a Middle East analyst from the Woodrow Wilson Centre, said there had been more contact between senior US and Iranian officials in the past few months than there had been in the past 30 years combined. It was also revealed on Sunday that the US and Iran had set up a secret diplomatic back channel after an exchange of letters between President Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in early August. Al-Monitor, a Washington-based blog specialising on the region, reported that the effort was led by the Deputy Secretary of State, William Burns. Mr Kerry called on the US Congress not to impose any new sanctions on Iran, suggesting that the President could use his veto power to prevent it from doing so. Last week the President met US senators in an effort to convince them not to pursue such a course. Apparently addressing Republicans sceptical of the deal, he said the sanctions were not an end in themselves, but were designed to bring about negotiations. Senator Mark Kirk, who has been a Republican voice on the issue, criticised the deal, but stopped short of calling for new measures. "I will continue working with my colleagues to craft bipartisan legislation that will impose tough new economic sanctions if Iran undermines this interim accord," he said.