DUSHANBE, April 3, 2015, Asia-Plus -- Iran and world powers yesterday reached a framework agreement on curbing Iran''s nuclear program for at least a decade, a step towards a final pact that could end 12 years of brinkmanship, threats and confrontation, international media outlets reports.

The tentative agreement, after eight days of marathon talks in Switzerland, reportedly clears the way for negotiations on a settlement aimed at allaying Western fears that Iran was seeking to build an atomic bomb and in return lift economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The framework is contingent on reaching an agreement by June 30.  All sanctions on Iran remain in place until a final deal.

Reuters reports celebrations erupted in the Iranian capital Tehran. Videos and pictures posted on social media showed cars in Tehran honking horns as passengers clapped.  In one video posted on Facebook, a group of women can be heard clapping and chanting "Thank you, Rouhani."   

President Barack Obama reportedly described the agreement as a “historic understanding with Iran” and compared it to nuclear arms control deals struck by his predecessors with the Soviet Union that “made our world safer” during the Cold War.  He also cautioned, however, that “success is not guaranteed.”

Many details still need to be worked out.  Diplomats close to the negotiations said the deal was fragile. It could not be ruled out that the understandings reached could collapse between now and June 30. Experts believe it will be much harder to reach a final deal than it was to agree the framework accord.

Under the outline deal, Iran would shut more than two-thirds of its installed centrifuges capable of producing uranium that could be used to build a bomb, dismantle a reactor that could produce plutonium, and accept intrusive verification.

The negotiations between Iran and six powers - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - blew past a self-imposed March 31 deadline with no certainty that they would not end in failure.

Meanwhile, Russian news agency TASS quoted Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Java Zarif as saying on Thursday that key solutions had been found at Iran’s negotiations with the "P5+1" group of international brokers.  “The solutions have been found, we can immediately get down to drafting the agreement,” Zarif said.

European diplomacy chief Federica Mogherini reportedly also promised good news after the final plenary meeting.

According to Reuters, the negotiating parties agreed that more than a thousand centrifuges would remain operational at the nuclear facility in Fordo.

Iran’s authorities are ready to cut the uranium-enrichment program for a term of 25 years, a source taking part in the Iran-P5+1 talks on Iran’s nuclear dossier in Switzerland’s Lausanne said on Thursday.

Iran and the world powers have agreed that uranium will be enriched to 3.67% at the enrichment facility in Natanz and more than 5,000 centrifuges will be involved in the process, a source noted.