Iran expects July's landmark nuclear deal with major powers to enter into force in early January, when Tehran will have implemented its commitments, Iran's deputy foreign minister said Tuesday.

"We expect it will be in early January," Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Vienna after meeting the head of the UN atomic watchdog, which is tasked with verifying the accord.

Under the July 14 deal that ended a potentially dangerous decade-long standoff, Iran undertook to dramatically scale back its nuclear programme.

This includes reducing by two thirds the number of centrifuges, machines which purify or "enrich" uranium, making it suitable for nuclear power generation but also for a nuclear bomb.

In addition Iran agreed to  to reduce its stockpile of uranium and alter a new reactor it is building at Arak.

In exchange, the six world powers -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- will lift painful sanctions.
Source: AFP