GENEVA, Nov 24: Iran and six world powers clinched a deal on Sunday curbing the Iranian nuclear programme in exchange for initial sanctions relief, signalling the start of a game-changing rapprochement that would reduce the risk of a wider Middle East war.

Aimed at easing a long festering standoff, the interim pact between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia won the critical endorsement of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Tehran said the agreement recognised its right to enrichuranium but Washington denied the deal made any such reference.

Israel slammed the deal as a `historic mistake` because it failed to ensure the Islamic republic could not acquire nuclear weapons.

The six world powers involved in the marathon talks however hailed the preliminary agreement, which seemed unthinkable only a few months ago and at least temporarily warded off the prospect of military escalation.

Under the deal, Tehran will limit uranium enrichment the area that raises most suspicions over Iran`s alleged nuclear weapons drive to low levels.

It will neutralise its entire stockpile of uranium enriched to medium 20-per cent purities close to weapons-grade within sixmonths, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Geneva, where he and other foreign ministers helped nail down the deal.

Iran will also not add to its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, nor install more centrifuges or commission the Arak reactor. UN atomic inspectors will also have additional, `unprecedented` access, Mr Kerry said.

In exchange, the deal will provide the Islamic republic some $7 billion in sanctions GENEVA, Nov 24: Iran and six world powers clinched a deal on Sunday curbing the Iranian nuclear programme in exchange for initial sanctions relief, signalling the start of a game-changing rapprochement that would reduce the risk of a wider Middle East war.

Aimed at easing a long festering standoff, the interim pact between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia won the critical endorsement of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Tehran said the agreement recognised its right to enrichuranium but Washington denied the deal made any such reference.

Israel slammed the deal as a `historic mistake` because it failed to ensure the Islamic republic could not acquire nuclear weapons.

The six world powers involved in the marathon talks however hailed the preliminary agreement, which seemed unthinkable only a few months ago and at least temporarily warded off the prospect of military escalation.

Under the deal, Tehran will limit uranium enrichment the area that raises most suspicions over Iran`s alleged nuclear weapons drive to low levels.

It will neutralise its entire stockpile of uranium enriched to medium 20-per cent purities close to weapons-grade within sixmonths, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Geneva, where he and other foreign ministers helped nail down the deal.

Iran will also not add to its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, nor install more centrifuges or commission the Arak reactor. UN atomic inspectors will also have additional, `unprecedented` access, Mr Kerry said.

In exchange, the deal will provide the Islamic republic some $7 billion in sanctions GENEVA, Nov 24: Iran and six world powers clinched a deal on Sunday curbing the Iranian nuclear programme in exchange for initial sanctions relief, signalling the start of a game-changing rapprochement that would reduce the risk of a wider Middle East war.

Aimed at easing a long festering standoff, the interim pact between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia won the critical endorsement of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Tehran said the agreement recognised its right to enrichuranium but Washington denied the deal made any such reference.

Israel slammed the deal as a `historic mistake` because it failed to ensure the Islamic republic could not acquire nuclear weapons.

The six world powers involved in the marathon talks however hailed the preliminary agreement, which seemed unthinkable only a few months ago and at least temporarily warded off the prospect of military escalation.

Under the deal, Tehran will limit uranium enrichment the area that raises most suspicions over Iran`s alleged nuclear weapons drive to low levels.

It will neutralise its entire stockpile of uranium enriched to medium 20-per cent purities close to weapons-grade within sixmonths, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Geneva, where he and other foreign ministers helped nail down the deal.

Iran will also not add to its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, nor install more centrifuges or commission the Arak reactor. UN atomic inspectors will also have additional, `unprecedented` access, Mr Kerry said.

In exchange, the deal will provide the Islamic republic some $7 billion in sanctions relief and the powers promised to impose no new embargo measures for six months if Tehran sticks to the accord.

This represents `limited, temporary, targeted and reversible relief while maintaining the vast bulk of our sanctions, including the oil, finance, and banking sanctions architecture,` the White House said.

Right to N-enrichment? Hassan Rouhani, whose election as Iran`s president in June raised hopes of a thaw with the West, insisted `Iran`s right to uranium enrichment on its soil was accepted in this nuclear deal by world powers`.

But Mr Kerry was adamant: `This first step does not say that Iran has the right of enrichment, no matter what interpretative comments are made`.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the recognition was implicit, as diplomats who were at loggerheads only hours earlier tried to sell the deal to their domestic audiences.

Russia said there were only winners and no losers in the deal, while Iran`s other ally China said the Geneva document would support stability in the Middle East.

France, the member of the so-called P5+1 group that had expressed the most reservations over Iran`s commitment in a previous round of talks, called Sunday`s deal `a step in the right direction`.

Over the next six months, Iran and the United States, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany are to negotiate a more comprehensive deal.

`It is now crucial to ensure punctual implementation of the agreement reached and to continue working, on the basis of the trust that is being built, towards a definitive settlement of this issue, European Union President Herman Van Rompuy said.

Joel Rubin, director of policy for the foundation Ploughshares Fund, warned that the hardest work could still lie ahead.

`This is going to challenge all of the feelings, and conceptions and ideologies and emotions that have been pent up in the US, in the West and in Israel and elsewhere for decades. It`s going to be a very, very hard task, he said.

The deal was reached at the third meeting of the P5+1 and Iran since Mr Rouhani replaced the more hawkish Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in August and said he was ready for crunch talks.

Iranians, many of whom see the nuclear programme as a source of national pride, are impatient to see a lifting of sanctions that have more than halved Iran`s vital oil exports since mid-2012.

`The structure of the sanctions against Iran has begun to crack,` Mr Rouhani said after the Geneva signing.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who last week described Israel as a doomed `rabid dog`, hailed the deal as an `achievement`.-Agencies