After the 12-year-long talks, a landmark agreement was reached between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members - China, France, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom - plus Germany), in Vienna on July 14. Six days later, the 15-member Security Council unanimously endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and said it will lift its sanctions on Iran after receiving a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency verifying Teheran will indeed implement the commitments it has made in the JCPOA.

Although the agreement is a milestone in international relations, it remains an arduous task to ensure the success of the deal, which is based on compromises including sanctions and power-oriented restrictions, not mutual trust.

The origin of the Iranian nuclear issue can be traced to the deep-seated ideological differences between Iran and the West, which are unlikely to be resolved even after Teheran fulfills its promise of removing centrifuges and shutting down uranium-enrichment facilities. Still, as a new paradigm of win-win cooperation and political negotiation in the post-Cold War era, the JCPOA has defused tensions in the Middle East and proved that diplomacy and dialogue can tackle thorny regional and global issues.