Many positive developments
The geopolitics of the region and the world is a changing. For the first time since the end of the Cold War at the cusp of the 1990s, the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in the autumn of 1989 signifying its beginning and dissolution of the Soviet Union two years later almost to date reflecting its culmination, the US’ unipolar status is subtly but definitely receding. The Russia of today is back into world reckoning and the West’s rather hasty and unseemly retreat on Syria denotes that its diplomacy can no longer be ignored. In that context, Iran’s comeback – once dubbed as ‘the Axis of Evil’ by President Bush in 2002 – from the cold and engaging the six world powers is a sea change by itself. The talks were not successful, in the sense that no immediate deal was arrived at and no softening or end of sanctions on Iran was allowed. But then that would have been expecting too much.
And there is much to be satisfied about it. Though no agreement was reached in talks with ‘Five plus One’, subsequent parleys with regard to Iran giving the IAEA, the UN’s nuclear watch dog, ‘managed access’ to its facilities was signed. As to who was responsible for the failure of talks, John Kerry said Iran was ‘unprepared to accept a proposed draft agreement’. But Iran’s foreign minister Zarif blamed Kerry’s ‘conflicting statements’ to have damaged confidence in talks that all sides had agreed would be conducted in secret. But another telling factor was the Israelis, the Saudis and the American lawmakers pressuring the US and its allies to take a tougher line against Iran. Some reports also put the onus of failure on France as its foreign minister Laurent Fabius complained that the proposed agreement was a ‘fool’s game’ at a critical point in negotiations.
All said and done, the agreement – the first in the last five years – with the IAEA is indicative of Iran’s commitment to reaching an accommodation with the West and its willingness to take steps toward resolving outstanding issues on its nuclear programme. This is a positive development while another heartening factor is that though unfinished the talks remain alive. Diplomacy takes work, and agreements rarely flow seamlessly from beginning to end. What is needed is to build on positive developments that have taken place since the new Iranian president took over and showed he is keen to bring Iran back as an active partner in international community.
