A successful outcome of the nuclear talks between Iran and the six world powers could potentially represent the most significant diplomatic breakthrough for the United States in the Middle East since the Madrid peace conference of 1991, which set the stage for the Oslo Accord and the Israel-Jordan peace treaty.

The stakes in Vienna are not just about Iran’s nuclear program. The negotiations have already signaled the possibilities for addressing some of the region’s most intractable and costly conflicts, including the battle against the Islamic State (IS), which occupies large tracts of Syria and Iraq and whose influence is growing across the region.

Al-Monitor's first Week in Review, in December 2012, noted that Iran was essential to either a diplomatic solution or continued conflict across the region’s fault lines. In September 2014, one year into the talks, we wrote that the negotiations with Iran were facilitating a tentative trend toward the “emergence of what may be a truly regional counterterrorism coalition, with potential for a transformation in regional security, if managed carefully.” 

Barbara Slavin reports this week that “Iranian officials have suggested they would be willing to work openly with the United States to counter IS. In a video message from Vienna on July 3 devoted primarily to the nuclear negotiations, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that a nuclear deal would ‘open new horizons to address important common challenges. … The menace we are facing … is embodied by the hooded men who are ravaging the cradle of civilization.’”