Lausanne Agreement and Increased Hope Among Iranian Citizens for Change

Ten years of nuclear negotiations. Talks, news, and rumors. Hopes and disappointments. Threats, bravado, letters, and speeches. A decade of intense nuclear conflict between Iran and global powers. Years that were not just political. Years of sanctions that brought political issues into the homes of the people. The possession or lack of nuclear energy has now become a matter linked to hospital beds, medicine, treatment, food, jobs, bank accounts, and even the daily purchases of citizens. Now, the nuclear negotiations and years of ongoing dialogue have reached a safe point, and both sides have agreed on generalities that will gradually lift international sanctions against Iran. However, the active participation of Iranian society in following these nuclear negotiations over the years may be unprecedented. Why have people in Iran followed the nuclear negotiations so closely and intensely? Mohammad from Tehran speaks of the people's hope for change after the nuclear agreement: 'Over the past few years, these sanctions imposed on the Iranian nation have really worn people down. They have had a significant impact on people's lives and livelihoods. If these sanctions are lifted, people's lives will truly improve. This hope is clearly evident in the hearts of the Iranian people.' Mehdi also sees Iran's nuclearization as a way out: 'If we become nuclear, many of our issues and problems will be solved, and deprivations will be lifted, good relations will be established, and many facilities for life will be created.' Mr. Saadat, who works in industry, states that the direct impact of sanctions on people's lives cannot be ignored: 'If I or anyone else as an Iranian deny the direct effect of these sanctions and their tangible impact on the lives of individuals, I think that is a great lie. Every Iranian truly understands the bad economic conditions, unemployment, and the very dire situation that exists in our country. This is certainly due to those pieces of paper that, thanks to Mr. Ahmadinejad and his likes, have increased these sanctions day by day, and today we have reached the end of our country. I myself work in industry and have seen this up close; after Mr. Rouhani came to power and negotiations were brought up, the situation improved a bit, and it really had a significant effect on our country's industry. Many factories that we clearly saw were inactive, not that they became fully active, but their wheels started to turn a bit, which itself was a glimmer of hope.' Do people in Iran have an interest in politics, or do they see their fate as heavily dependent on the negotiation tables of politicians inside and outside the country? Do people in Iran need to have hope? Hossein Ghazian, a sociologist, states: 'People always need hope. That is why they dream and dreams are sweet for them. But in a society where hopelessness is greater, and its horizons are narrower and more closed, the need for hope is stronger. For our society, which has seen no horizon of improvement for years, even the slightest hope for change and improvement generates a lot of hope, and therefore the volume of hope produced is greater. But the fact that this issue is pursued in society is because it is linked to improving conditions and creating hope. It seems that the nuclear agreement is a miraculous alchemy that will solve all our problems, and excessive expectations have been generated for it.' Some may say that the Iranian government, through extensive and continuous propaganda over the years, has managed to turn its ideology and nuclear goals into a matter of national pride and demand. I share this analysis with Hossein Ghazian: 'In my opinion, the government has been generally successful in transforming the nuclear issue from a matter that it pursued behind the scenes and without considering the people's needs into a national issue or national pride. Both the government has played a role and been successful in this regard, and those who opposed this nuclear policy, including foreign forces, primarily Israel and the United States. The type of opposition they expressed, which is perceived as unfair by the people in their attack on the government's nuclear policy, has both played a role in the political situation related to the nuclear issue and in the gathering and support for a nuclear program, turning it into a national demand.' At one time, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the then President of Iran, referred to international sanctions against Iran as pieces of paper and stated that they did not play much of a role in the country's situation. However, in recent years, more and more officials have stated that the main culprit in the crisis of unemployment, inflation, and the shutdown of industries is the sanctions. Can the removal of sanctions really solve all the predominantly economic problems of the people? Mr. Ghazian states that realities will impose themselves again: 'Our economic situation, according to many economists, is not very related to sanctions issues. Sanctions may have intensified it in the last two or three years, but the root of these problems has been the financial and monetary policies of the government over the past 10 years, especially during the eight years of Mr. Ahmadinejad's presidency. Therefore, those policies created a foundation in the financial situation that the sanctions, with their intensification, worsened the situation. The idea that sanctions will solve all those issues is generally not acceptable to economists. Thus, only the psychological aspect of improvement remains, which may manifest itself in the reduction of currency or gold prices and temporary market fluctuations for psychological reasons. However, after these psychological effects fade, and hope returns to a normal level, and inflationary expectations return, then economic realities will impose themselves again, and we may once again fall from that high level of hope into a state of hopelessness because we see that economic realities remain firm and unchanged and continue to disturb and disrupt our lives.' The Iranian society seeks joy, life, hope, and unrestricted access to the vast resources and facilities of the world.