AS negotiations in Vienna enter their final stretch, there is indeed hope that the Iran nuclear deal may be revived, paving the way for the resolution of one of the Middle East’s major crises. The Iranian foreign ministry’s spokesman told the media on Monday, talks have made “significant progress” though he added the caveat that nothing is final “until everything is agreed”. The Iranian official also observed that the remaining issues were the “hardest”. According to the details available, Iran is expected to regain access to billions of dollars in funds frozen because of the near collapse of the deal following Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the agreement, while it is expected to free Western prisoners. Indeed, the renewal of the deal may help improve the currently tense situation in the Middle East as Tehran, the Arabs and the West engage with each other to resolve their differences. However, for the deal to succeed, Iran should have access to world markets, especially for its petrochemical products, and crushing sanctions should be lifted. Moreover, it would be unwise for the West to couple the nuclear issue with concerns over Iran’s support for groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis. Clumping all these issues will only complicate matters, and efforts to revive the nuclear deal may collapse once more.

Of course, there will be irritants standing in the way of peace between Iran and the West. For example, the Israeli foreign minister has been quoted as saying that “we are more unhappy with (the emerging) deal”. Israel’s unhappiness here is immaterial, as it is not a party to the deal, while it has no leg to stand on as it is believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East currently. Western negotiators must not be swayed by hostile anti-Iran rhetoric and should give Tehran a fair deal if they expect its cooperation. Meanwhile, it is incumbent on Iran to consider the best deal available in the interests of peace.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2022