WASHINGTON: After months of domestic policy setbacks, the Geneva agreement could mark a turning point in Barack Obama’s troubled second term. But the White House must first convince critics in Washington that negotiators have not conceded Iranian sanctions relief too readily, and Obama is anxious to deter efforts in the Senate to impose fresh economic sanctions instead.

Efforts to win over key lawmakers began within hours of the deal being struck in Geneva. Early reaction in Washington suggested that the package of weapons inspections and enrichment restrictions, while not enough to persuade all Republicans, may prove sufficiently robust to avoid an embarrassing rebellion on Capitol Hill.

But for Obama to trumpet the diplomatic breakthrough as a personal achievement will require days of careful political messaging. Similar White House success in removing chemical weapons from Syria was undermined in the US by a widespread perception that Obama had stumbled upon a solution thanks to help from Russia rather than deserving praise as the primary architect of the policy.

Within minutes of the deal being struck in Geneva, Obama made a surprise late-night appearance before cameras in the White House to insist that his brand of compromise had been the key to progress this time around.

“Ultimately, only diplomacy can bring about a durable solution to the challenge posed by Iran’s nuclear programme,” he said.

“As president and commander-in-chief, I will do what is necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But I have a profound responsibility to try to resolve our differences peacefully, rather than rush towards conflict.”

White House officials were keen to stress that the public talks in Geneva were only the tip of a wider diplomatic effort to reach out to Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, that had been under way for months in private.

Sceptics in Washington will demand further signs of progress before crediting Obama with the lasting diplomatic achievement he so craves, but for the first time since his re-election last year the president is on the verge of a major public success story.

By arrangement with the Guardian