Iran and six world powers reached an agreement early Tuesday that would essentially freeze Tehran's nuclear ambitions for 10 years in exchange for international legitimacy and relief from international sanctions, a concession that's expected to inject hundreds of billions of dollars into the country's ailing economy.

The deal was intended as a peaceful means of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but questions remained on whether it would achieve that goal. Terms of the agreement released by the White House said it would increase to one year Iran's ability to produce enough enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb and closes off all four pathways Tehran could use to build one — but the details of how that will be accomplished, contained in five technical annexes, are what will matter to nuclear experts evaluating whether it will meet its goal.

"We delivered what the world was hoping for," said Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign policy chief, in a news conference from Vienna. "We are creating conditions for building trust and opening a new chapter in our relationship."

"This deal demonstrates that American diplomacy can bring about meaningful change," Obama added in his early Tuesday announcement that the deal had been struck. He said the United States gives up nothing by testing whether this problem can be solved peacefully.

"I will veto any legislation that prevents the successful implementation of this deal," he added.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the agreement "shows constructive engagement works. With this unnecessary crisis resolved, new horizons emerge with a focus on shared challenges."

According to news reports, the deal came after a compromise on the U.N. arms embargo against Iran, which Tehran, backed by Russia and China, insisted should be lifted. The Associated Press reported that the embargo would be in place for up to five more years, though it can be removed earlier if the International Atomic Energy Agency certifies that Iran's nuclear program is entirely peaceful.

Iran's state-controlled Press TV reported that the embargo "will be annulled and replaced with certain restrictions."

The Obama administration, already under heavy political pressure from lawmakers in Congress for making too many concessions for a deal, has opposed the demand to lift the embargo as too high a price to pay.

That pressure was evident almost immediately Tuesday as critics slammed the administration for making a deal that would not achieve its basic objective of keeping nuclear weapons out of Iran.

"Sadly, the administration just lit the fuse for a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. We all know Iran's neighbors will not sit idly as the world's largest state-sponsor of terror becomes a nuclear-threshold state," Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in a statement.

"Congress will thoroughly review it in the coming weeks but this much is immediately clear: this deal abandons America's historic bipartisan commitment to preventing nuclear proliferation, and instead begins the era of managed proliferation—a descent into chaos and an even more dangerous world."

In a series of tweets, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also slammed the deal:

"World powers have made far-reaching concessions in all areas that were supposed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapons capability," he said. "When willing to make a deal at any cost, this is the result. From early reports, we can see that the deal is a historic mistake."