A crowd of well-wishers hailed Iranian negotiators today as they returned to Tehran after agreeing the framework of a potentially historic nuclear deal with world powers, Iranian news agencies reported.
Several dozen people greeted Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his team as they left Tehran's Mehrabad airport after returning from the negotiations in Lausanne, the ISNA news agency reported.
"Viva Zarif! Viva Araghchi!" the crowd chanted, in reference to the minister and one of the main negotiators, Abbas Araghchi.
Reaching out to Iranian hardliners who have opposed any deal that would curb Tehran's nuclear activities, Zarif said work remained to finalise the agreement before a June 30 deadline.
"In negotiations, it is not supposed to be one side taking all the advantages and the other side surrendering," Zarif said.
"We have serious goals in the negotiations and eventually, based on what we have achieved so far, we believe we can reach them," he added.
Ali Akbar Salehi, who led the technical negotiations in Lausanne, said the outline agreement was a major step forward.
In the wake of Thursday's agreement, several conservative websites published comments from Mehdi Mohammadi, a political analyst, describing the deal as "in no way balanced".
He also said the deal was "vague on the timing of sanctions relief".
Saeidollah Allahbedashti, an aide to President Hassan Rouhani, denounced claims that he said were undermining the achievements of negotiators.
"The public has proven it can understand the difference between traitors and those who serve" their country, he said at the airport.
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