The US government on Saturday announced that a wide range of economic, fiscal and trade sanctions imposed on Iran for its decade-long nuclear transgressions had been lifted. US President Barack Obama reiterated that the IAEA had confirmed Teheran’s compliance with its ‘roll-back’ commitments, which had been agreed to in July 2014 after protracted negotiations between Iran and the US-led P5+1.
This complex modus vivendi between the US and Iran marks a significant rapprochement – however nascent and limited – between the two countries which have a history of bitter hostility since 1979 when the Shah of Iran was overthrown by a Shia theocracy. The US was long seen as the enemy of the Iranian people for its dubious role in thwarting democracy in Iran in 1953 – and the label of the ‘Great Satan’ has since been accorded to Washington.