According to President Obama, the agreement is a "good deal" that "shuts down Iran's path to a bomb." The devil is in the details, of course, which won't be finalized until June 30, but at first blush the deal emerging out of Switzerland accomplishes that which it was intended to. Critics maintain that Iran will be able to readily defeat restrictions imposed by the deal in order to realize its nuclear aspirations. The key to any agreement will lie in the verification measures implemented to ensure compliance. But the fact remains that the technical framework put in place by this deal severely constrains Iran's ability to enrich uranium which, while falling short of an outright ban on enrichment (something Iran would never agree to), more than meets the goals and objectives set by the United States and the other nations involved in the negotiations.

The main worry among those fixated on Iran's nuclear program is the so-called "breakout" time needed by Iran to convert a permitted "peaceful" nuclear enrichment program into one capable of producing sufficient fissile material for use in a nuclear weapon. According to Iran's critics, the 19,000 centrifuges operated by Iran today give Tehran a "breakout" window of 2-3 months.