Iran and the P5+1 group of international mediators reached a breakthrough interim deal on Thursday regarding Tehran's nuclear energy program following marathon talks in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“The president says negotiators have cleared the basic threshold needed to continue talks, but the parameters for a final deal represent an alarming departure from the White House’s initial goals,” Boehner said on Thursday.
He stated that his immediate concern is to keep in place anti-Iranian economic sanctions. In Boehner's view, Iran intends to make a nuclear bomb which, he says, would destabilize the current balance of power in the Middle East.
Thursday’s preliminary nuclear agreement with Iran comes after nearly 18 months of negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, which includes the United States, France, China, Russia and the United Kingdom plus Germany.
The agreement requires Iran to reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium by 98 percent for 15 years, and reduce the number of centrifuges by more than two-thirds, among other measures.
Under the new deal, US and EU nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran will be suspended after the IAEA verifies that Iran has started following through with key nuclear agreements.
The deadline for reaching a comprehensive agreement has been set for June 30, 2015.
