About an hour after the announcement that the P5+1 had reached a framework of an agreement for a new nuclear deal with Iran, the Iranian Foreign Minister took issue with how the United States was explaining the proposal.
Shortly after he read the framework aloud in Farsi, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif reacted to a State Department fact sheet on Twitter:
That was apparently a reference to this fact sheet summarizing the deal, which was posted on the State Department’s website. About 30 minutes later, Zarif reacted even more strongly to claims that Iran would receive “gradual” sanctions relief.
That phrase “gradual” did not appear in the State Department fact sheet, so it’s not clear what it was that prompted Zarif’s outburst.
President Obama did say something similar to “gradual” during his Rose Garden announcement of the framework. Describing the lifting of sanctions in response to Iranian compliance with the terms of the deal, Obama said, [emphasis added] “In return for Iran’s actions, the international community has agreed to provide Iran with relief from certain sanctions… This relief will be phased as Iran takes steps to adhere to the deal.”
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