Nuclear Agreement Reached: Will Iran Deliver?

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In The Media

Nuclear Agreement Reached: Will Iran Deliver?

The success of nuclear agreements are judged over a period of months and years, not over a period of minutes.

By Karim Sadjadpour

Published on Nov 24, 2013

Source: BBC Newsnight

Since Iran’s 1979 revolution, the country has never had a more effective diplomat than current foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said Carnegie’s Karim Sadjadpour on BBC Newsnight. In contrast to many Iranian diplomats, Sadjapour said, Zarif spoke “not as a fire breathing ideologue, but as a nationalist,” and has done a very effective job of articulating Iran’s national interest.

The big question people will have is how much control over Iran’s nuclear program someone like Zarif has, Sadjadpour continued. To what extent Zarif and Rouhani are able to deliver on their promises and whether Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are fully on board with this interim agreement remains to be seen as well. He emphasized that the success of nuclear agreements is judged over a period of months and years, not over a period of minutes. With the Iranian population eager for to have economic sanctions lifted and to rejoin the international community, it will be tough for members of Revolutionary Guard to go against this enormous popular will, Sadjadpour concluded.

This interview was originally aired on BBC Newsnight.

About the Author

Karim Sadjadpour

Senior Fellow, Middle East Program

Karim Sadjadpour is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on Iran and U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East.

Recent Work

Q&A
What’s Keeping the Iranian Regime in Power—for Now
- Aaron David Miller, Karim Sadjadpour, Robin Wright
Q&A
How Washington and Tehran Are Assessing Their Next Steps
- Aaron David Miller, David Petraeus, Karim Sadjadpour

Political Reform Nuclear Policy Foreign Policy United States Middle East Iran

Carnegie India does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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