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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hailed the deal, which was reached after four days of hard bargaining, including an eleventh-hour intervention by Secretary of State John F. Kerry and foreign ministers from Europe, Russia and China.

"It is important that we all of us see the opportunity to end an unnecessary crisis and open new horizons based on respect, based on the rights of the Iranian people and removing any doubts about the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran"s nuclear program," Zarif told reporters in English. "This is a process of attempting to restore confidence."

The deal, intended as a first step toward a more comprehensive nuclear pact to be completed in six months, freezes or reverses progress at all of Iran"s major nuclear facilities, according to Western officials familiar with the details. It halts the installation of new centrifuges used to enrich uranium and caps the amount and type of enriched uranium that Iran is allowed to produce.

Iran also agreed to halt work on key components of a heavy-water reactor that could someday provide Iran with a source of plutonium. In addition, Iran accepted a dramatic increase in oversight, including daily monitoring by international nuclear inspectors, the officials said.

The concessions not only halt Iran"s nuclear advances but also make it virtually impossible for Tehran to build a nuclear weapon without being detected, the officials said. In return, Iran will receive modest relief of trade sanctions and access to some of its frozen currency accounts overseas, concessions said to be valued at less than $7 billion over the six-month term of the deal. The sanctions would be reinstated if Iran violates the agreement"s terms.

The Associated Press reported that hours after the accord was reached, Iran"s President Hassan Rouhani said the deal recognizes Tehran"s "rights" to maintain an atomic program.

Rouhani on Sunday repeated Iran"s claim that it would "never" seek atomic weapons.

His reference to "nuclear rights" in a nationally broadcast speech touches on the country"s demand to keep its uranium enrichment program.

In an address from the White House after the deal was announced, President Obama praised the negotiators" work. "Today, that diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure - a future in which we can verify that Iran"s nuclear program is peaceful and that it cannot build a nuclear weapon," he said. "While today"s announcement is just a first step, it achieves a great deal. 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."

Coronavirus: Signs the new Sars-like virus can spread between people

13 February 2013Last updated at 13:23

By James GallagherHealth and science reporter

 

Professor John Watson: "The risk remains very low"

Health officials in the UK believe they have the strongest evidence yet that a new respiratory illness similar to the deadly Sars virus can spread from person to person.

Cases of the infection may come from contact with animals. However, if the virus can spread between people it poses a much more serious threat.

One man in the UK is thought to have caught the infection from his father.

However, officials say the threat to the whole population remains very low.

There have been 11 confirmed cases of the infection around the world. It causes pneumonia and sometimes kidney failure - five patients have died.

Confirmed novel coronavirus infection in a person without travel history to the Middle East suggests that person-to-person transmission has occurred, and that it occurred in the UK.”

End Quote Prof John Watson Health Protection Agency

This is the third case identified in the UK. The first was a patient flown in from Qatar for treatment. The second was linked to travel to the Middle East and Pakistan.

The virus is then thought to have spread from the second patient to his son. There have been suggestions of person to person transmission in earlier cases in the Middle East, but this was not confirmed.

Susceptible

The third UK case is being treated in intensive care at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

The patient is known to have an underlying health condition which left them with a weakened immune system. This may have made them susceptible to the infection.

There have been no signs of the virus spreading to staff at the hospital.

Prof John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the Health Protection Agency (HPA), said: "Confirmed novel coronavirus infection in a person without travel history to the Middle East suggests that person-to-person transmission has occurred, and that it occurred in the UK.

Confirmed cases

Saudi Arabia: Five cases, three deaths

Jordan: Two cases, two deaths

UK: Three cases, including one flown from Qatar

Germany: One cases, flown from Qatar

Total: 11 cases, five deaths

Source: Health Protection Agency/World Health Organization

"Although this case provides strong evidence for person to person transmission, the risk of infection in most circumstances is still considered to be very low."

The exact source of the new virus and how it spreads is still unknown. The leading theory is that it comes from animals, the new Sars-like virus does appear to be

closely related to bats.

However, if the infection needs to jump from an animal to a person with each infection the threat would be much lower.

The World Health Organization reported cases from within the same family in Saudi Arabia in November 2012.

It was impossible to tell whether each patient caught the infection separately - or if it had spread between them.

A WHO spokesperson said: "We know that in some of those cases there was close physical contact between family members caring for one another, so we can"t rule out human-to-human transmission."

The two cases in the UK, with only one case linked to foreign travel, provide the strongest evidence that the infection can spread between people. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said it was "overwhelmingly likely" human-to-human transmission had occurred.

However, if the virus could readily and easily spread between people then far more cases than the 11 detected so far would have been detected.

New strain

Continue reading the main story

The emergence of any new virus that poses a threat to human health is a cause for concern.

If the pathogen can spread from person to person, it becomes a significant issue. But the indications are the dangers to the general population are very low.

The very small number of cases strongly suggests if it does pass between people, it is not very contagious.

It appears infected animals - possibly bats - are the source of most of the cases so far.

Coronaviruses cannot survive outside the body for more than 24 hours and are killed by most detergents.

You will see it described as a "Sars-like virus" in headlines. But a key difference is that it does not pass easily from person to person.

Furthermore, it is also from the same family of viruses that produce the common cold.

• Read more from Fergus

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses ranging from the common cold to the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus, which spread through droplets of body fluids produced by sneezing and coughing.

It is thought these cases do not represent a "tip of the iceberg" with far more people being infected with mild or no symptoms, but the infection is still being analysed.

In 2003 an outbreak of Sars killed about 800 people after the virus spread to more than 30 countries around the world.

The new coronavirus was first identified in September 2012 in a patient in Saudi Arabia who has since died.

No travel restrictions are in place.

Prof John Oxford, a virology expert at Queen Mary, University of London, said: "This doesn"t raise too many alarm bells.

"In a family things can spread far more easily than they would spread outside, people share towels and toothbrushes etc.

"If it was somebody who was not related or a nurse or a doctor - that would be a lot more serious."

Prof Ian Jones, from the University of Reading, said: "There is really close contact involved here, it is not "true" human transmission in the general public.

"Although it is severe, it"s not doing anything worse than some other respiratory infections, it"s just a new one."

Prof Wendy Barclay, from Imperial College London, said it was wise to keep a close eye on the virus.

"We"re an incremental step closer to worrying, but it isn"t a worry where we need to say there is a pandemic coming," she said.