Nearly 20 months of intense negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany have finally resulted in a historic agreement to reduce Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Iranians watched the final days of these talks as intensely as others watch their countries compete in the World Cup. The decadelong nuclear dispute that resulted in Iranians becoming more isolated as sanctions slowly chipped away at their earnings, as President Hassan Rouhani put it July 14 after the deal was announced, impacted Iranian lives harder than the nuclear program.
It makes sense, then, that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the man tasked with ending this crisis by negotiating directly with Iran’s largest and most powerful enemy, the United States, would be hailed as a hero by Iranians. Those eager to see their financial lives improved and to see 36 years of tensions with the “Great Satan” greatly reduced have rejoiced.
