As the world watches for a comprehensive nuclear deal to be reached between Iran and the world powers today, July 10, it is important to consider how such a deal can help to increase cooperation between Iran and the United States on regional issues.
The prospect of a nuclear deal owes a lot to initial confidence-building measures toward the United States inside Iran and, as Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein-Amir Abdollahian put it in a July 6 CNN interview, the “positive impression” the United States left in the recent nuclear talks. Any meaningful cooperation between Iran and the United States on regional issues also requires a change in Iran’s domestic politics toward US goals in the region.