Iran nuclear deal boosts world peace

Major world powers and Iran have reached a landmark deal on Tehran's nuclear programme as the global community heaved a sigh of relief following the development, which is expected to remove a highly dangerous international source of tensions. The accord has been possible following four days of tortuous talks in Geneva between the foreign ministers of the United States, Russia, China, France, Great Britain and Germany with their Iranian counterpart. The deal has been well received from important quarters across the world even though the US Congress has voiced scepticism and warned that tough sanctions would follow if Iran breached the accord.
 Some unfavourable reactions notwithstanding, the accord that has come after painstaking efforts for several years, has been hailed by most countries as a step in the right direction for lessening global tensions. US president Barack Obama, whose country has big stakes in the deal, particularly because of bitter Tehran-Washington ties mainly over Iran's nuclear ambitions, described the accord as a "first step" towards peace with the nation that is seen as a kind of pariah by most Western countries. The clinching of the accord is being characterised as "historic" by many countries and the media since even a few weeks ago such a development was somewhat unthinkable because of the myriad complexities.
Iran and, especially, the US are seeking to interpret the accord a little differently suiting their positions. But the bottom line is that it has been a reality and now the international community would look forward to its implementation. It is possible that the accord still may hit snags when the nitty-gritty is dealt with all seriousness by the concerned parties. Nonetheless, this is a great leap forward towards making a safe world since Iran's nuclear ambitions spawned jingoistic postures among different nations including key players of the global scenario. Now, that threat is expected to largely diminish if not evaporate unless the situation quite unlikely goes back to square one.
The country which is visibly most frustrated at the development is no other than Israel, a close ally of the United States, but an arch enemy of Iran. Tel Aviv has castigated the deal as a "historic mistake" and felt that world powers would some day regret for having reached an accord with Tehran on a highly debatable issue. Needless to say, Israel favoured and even clamoured for military actions against Iran to dismantle its nuclear establishments. Angered by the lack of international response to its call, Tel Aviv also threatened to take unilateral military measures to stop Tehran from going ahead with its atomic programme. Israel and Western powers alleged that Iran was working for making nuclear bombs while later denied the accusation, saying its purpose was to use atomic power for peaceful means. The divergent positions made success in any dialogue between the two sides difficult. But the deal has now been clinched.
 For Israel, this has come as a second big blow as it is still licking the wounds suffered from another landmark accord - the elimination of chemical weapons of Syria brokered by the US and Russia. Tel Aviv was asking its ally US for military action against Damascus on the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syria in the civil war, but president Obama rolled back from his plan to attack Syria at the last moment. That deeply disappointed Israel, which wanted the perennial foe Syria is given a "lesson" by the Western powers, but that did not happen. Now, the Iran stand-off has also been resolved', leaving little scope for military actions against Tehran, which earlier said it would face any attack from Israel or any other country with full might.
Iran and Syria are close allies and are seen as anti-West. Both the nations are quite close to Russia and China, the two permanent members of the UN security council and came to rescue both Tehran and Damascus diplomatically in the world body from Western assaults.
Moscow said there are only "winners" and no losers in the deal while Beijing hailed it, saying this would help stabilise the volatile Middle East region. European Union president Herman van Rompuy saw the deal as an important forward step towards peace and said "it is now necessary to implement the deal and work on the basis of the trust built by all concerned sides".
The presidential elections in Iran in June, this year, is definitely a catalyst in reaching the accord as a liberal Hassan Rouhani, replacing hard line Mehmood Ahmedinijad, helped soften Tehran's stance on its nuclear programme. The country has also been badly affected by the international sanctions and it now hopes relaxations in the sanctions involving seven billion US dollar. The US said it would slowly relax the tough measures imposed on Iran.
There can still be some "ifs" and "buts" related to various provisions of the deal which is burdened with high technicalities. Nevertheless, this has been a great success for the world community in the sense that a big international flashpoint has been removed by a large extent. Coming quite close on the heals of the US-Russia accord on Syria's chemical weapons, this deal is a reflection of the ability of the world powers to settle matters - howsoever complex they are - given the will and sincerity.
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