The >joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear programme announced by Iran and the EU 3+3 (the United Kingdom, France, Germany along with China, Russia and the United States) in Lausanne, Switzerland, is a significant breakthrough that will have long-lasting implications globally. The possible reward for Iran’s >promised steps , namely ramping down its uranium enrichment capabilities and stockpiles of enriched uranium, reducing the number of centrifuges, allowing for thorough inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency and giving up nuclear reprocessing is the lifting of the tough sanctions regime against the country. That the 18-month-long negotiations between the various parties finally bore fruit had much to do with the fact that Iran’s current regime is headed by a pragmatist in President Hassan Rouhani who was elected in 2013 on the premise of bringing about an entente with the West, among others. The determination of U.S. President Barack Obama to reverse the rigid stance of his more conservative predecessor, George W. Bush, over repairing ties with Iran and bringing about an agreement over the latter’s nuclear programme had also helped. Mr. Obama managed to overcome the stiff opposition to the deal from the right-wing Republican Party in the U.S., which had become politically stronger over the past year.
Iran has always maintained that its nuclear programme was meant only for peaceful purposes and that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it was entitled to enrichment of uranium for energy generation. But the unrelenting pressure from the West in the past decade, including recurring talk of open hostility from the U.S. and Israel, had led to defiance from the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad-led regime. Iran went on to expand its nuclear programme by furthering enrichment capabilities and building clandestine nuclear facilities. These actions had invited sanctions from not only the U.S. and the EU, but the UN as well, which had hurt Iran economically and also made it difficult for countries such as India to engage in trade with the country. India’s imports from Iran — particularly petroleum products — had been severely curtailed due to the sanctions. The nuclear agreement with Iran should also help ease the long-standing hostile ties between the U.S. and Iran eventually helping to change at least some equations in the conflict-ridden West Asian region. Can Iran’s changed relationship with the U.S. persuade Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to bring a halt to the Sunni-Shia hostilities that have threatened to destabilise the region? The possibilities following this breakthrough are indeed high.
