US conservatives have lined up to condemn the deal reached between major world powers and Iran.

The agreement limits Iranian nuclear activity in return for the lifting of crippling international economic sanctions.

The US Congress has 60 days in which to consider the deal, though President Barack Obama has said he will veto any attempt to block it.

Israel's government has strongly criticised the agreement.

Negotiations between Iran and six world powers - the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany - began in 2006.

The so-called P5+1 want Iran to scale back its sensitive nuclear activities to ensure that it cannot build a nuclear weapon. Iran, which wants international sanctions lifted, has always insisted that its nuclear work is peaceful.

The Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, John Boehner, said the deal would only "embolden" Tehran.

"Instead of stopping the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, this deal is likely to fuel a nuclear arms race around the world," he added.

Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator and presidential candidate, described it as a "terrible" deal that would make matters worse.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a "stunning historic mistake" that would provide Iran with "hundreds of billions of dollars with which it can fuel its terror machine and its expansion and aggression throughout the Middle East and across the globe".

He said he did not regard Israel as being bound by this agreement. "We will always defend ourselves," he added.

BBC