The American-Iranian Deal: The Beginning of a New History

Talal Salman

It is a new beginning for a history that differs from the open conflict between Tehran and Washington which we became accustomed to, and which we paid certain prices for, ever since the outbreak of the Islamic Revolution in the Iran of Shahanshah, which was led by the late Imam Ruhollah al-Musawi al-Khomeini, which gained victory in early February 1979.

For the second time (a) rare scene is being repeated before the open eyes of the world, with a mixture of surprise and enthusiasm: from two positions which are so far apart that it seemed almost impossible for them to come together, the US President Barack Obama stands in his office at the White House on the eve of the end of his second and final term, and so stood the President of the Islamic Republic in Iran, Sheikh Hassan Rouhani, to announce the logical conclusion to the historic agreement on the nuclear issue, and [to announce] a new historic agreement, the results of which will not be limited to the two influential states, but will rather exceed them to affect the whole world.

The previous page, which is full of clashes and differences, has been turned, a page which almost led to the brink of war. A new page has been turned between the two influential states regarding the future, which will certainly have political repercussions on international relations in general, and the Middle East region in particular.

The era of war has ended, and the era of understanding has begun, without the ideological differences - which were set aside - coming to an end. Ideologies were set aside so that interests could take their place, and so that [interests] can take their [rightful] place between the two states who were in conflict for a long time in various fields and on global fronts that stretched from the Middle East to the heart of Asia, as well as to Latin America via Venezuela and Cuba, and to some extent Brazil, in addition to Africa and its various corners.

Iran will look at the world tomorrow differently to the way it has for over 35 years. It will remove its military attire, without abandoning the weapon of [religious] advocacy and preaching. It will be a strong state in its own region, and influential in international politics, politically, economically, and culturally...without the need for the Revolutionary Guards.

This was the Iran that lived, since the outbreak of the Islamic Revolution, under an international embargo, led by America, in the midst of endless wars waged by the "American world" that was clothed in camouflage, sometimes Arab [in the person of Saddam Hussein], and always economic, via a severe international siege that only very few states have been subjected to the like of [Egypt under Jamal Abdel Nasser, and Cuba under Fidel Castro and Che Guevara...].

If President Barack Obama has chosen the beginning of his last year in the White House to announce this historic achievement - perhaps to prevent difficulties from Congress - then the Iranian leadership had provided him with the assistance required to achieve - within its capacity - its historical achievement, which is greater than its victories in various "wars" which it waged on a front that stretched across the world, including Lebanon, together with Syria and Iraq, all the way to Yemen and most parts of Africa.

The new stage in the history of this world has begun. Unfortunately, the Arabs do not fit in [this new phase] in a way that befits their history.

Source: As-Safir Newspaper, Translated and Edited by website team