Iran and the United States try something new for once

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NEED TO KNOW:

It's not every day that two countries successfully put aside a half century of distrust to strike a deal that could change the world. This morning, however, Iran and the United States did just that. Everyone will call it historic. And everyone will be right.

The two longtime enemies today agreed to a deal that would limit Iran's ability to build a nuclear bomb, at least for the next decade. The exact wording of the deal says that it will “ensure that Iran's nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful.”

In exchange, the United States and others will lift ruinous economic sanctions. For the average Iranian who has been suffering beneath the weight of these sanctions for so many years now, this news will surely come as a relief. When the two sides first struck a framework for the deal in May, many Iranians quietly celebrated.

Globally, the deal could pave the way for a new basis of understanding and cooperation between Iran and the West. And that could have huge — and potentially very positive — impacts on the region in general.

Not everyone is excited, of course. Saudi Arabia, Iran's nemesis, is surely wincing right now. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal a “bad mistake.” Syrian rebels worry that Iran's ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, will benefit from the financial boost Iran will likely get from the lifting of sanctions. And Republican politicians in the United States are dutifully lining up to criticize US President Barack Obama, who, it should be noted, is having kind of rockstar sort of summer.

The deal will still have to be approved by the US Congress. It has 60 days to vote on it. But it could happen sooner than later because they all go on recess for the month of August. Obama, for his part, promised to veto any legislation passed by Congress that would alter the deal in any way.

So it should be an interesting few weeks coming up in Washington.

WANT TO KNOW:

To understand the historic significance of this deal, a little history is needed. Here is a timeline, which goes back to 1987, when Iran first started playing with nuclear power. But let's go back even further. In 1953, US and British intelligence changed the world, and few would say for the better.

The two nations orchestrated the overthrow of the democratically-elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh. They did this because a couple years earlier Mosaddegh, who supported a secular democracy in Iran, nationalized the country's oil industry. This was a big deal because it was Britain that had been in control of it prior to that. Britain wanted its oil back. So it convinced the United States to intervene. Manufacturing a communist threat and riots, the United States successfully toppled Mosaddegh.

After the world's chamption of democracy, the United States, put down Iran's first democratic government, two decades of corrupt, authoritarian rule by the Shah followed. He managed to stay in power that long partly due to the help of the United States, which offered up ample financial aid and weapons.

Then 1979 happened. An anti-American backlash toppled the Shah, during which 52 American diplomats were held hostage for 444 days. The revolution ushered in the Islamic Republic and changed the world, probably not for the better. That was the last time the United States and Iran had any official diplomatic connection.

The next time? 2013, when Obama called the newly-elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to begin the talks that culminated this morning.

STRANGE BUT TRUE:

The Iran deal is likely going to play a central role in the upcoming US presidential election. Candidates will debate it endlessly. Scott Walker, the Republican governor from Wisconsin who has thrown his boot into the crowded swamp of Republican presidential contenders, has already weighed in. He said that on the first day of his imagined presidency he would revoke the deal with Iran. Here's why:

“Who calls Iran a place we can do business with? Iran held Americans hostages. Iran has not changed much. We need a commander in chief who's going to look the American people in the eye and tell them exactly what's at stake here: radical Islamic terrorism is a threat to us all, and we're got to do something to stop it before they take the fight to us.

“We need a president who understands that Israel is an ally and start acting like it. And we need a president who's going to have the courage to look the American people in the eye and tell them what might not be easy to say, because it's not going to take a day, a week, a month, or even a year, but our enemy was not like the one we grew up with in the Cold War, when containment was enough. This is like a virus. If you don't take it out, it will only come back stronger. I'd rather take the fight to them than wait till they bring it to us."

Well, that is another strategy.