Iranians celebrate historic nuclear accord

Young Iranian men and women danced in streets of Tehran on Tuesday to cheer an historic nuclear accord with world powers that they hope will end years of economic sanctions and decades of international isolation.

Millions of Iranians had followed the talks closely for months with the anticipation that Tuesday’s deal would allow the economy, battered by years of sanctions, to stabilise and make their daily lives easier.

In the capital’s affluent north, crowds chanted and clapped, with some people holding aloft posters of Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

“I’m really happy about this great agreement that Dr. Zarif brought to us,” said one unidentified reveller.

Some young people draped the national flag over their shoulders, brandished posters of President Hassan Rouhani, made victory signs and shouted “Rouhani, thank you!”

“I feel a little lighter from all that tough work. Thank you Dr. Rouhani and thank you Dr. Zarif,” said a university student who did not give her name.

Residents said police turned a blind eye to the festivities, and some even joined in. A woman in Vanak Square in north Tehran told Reuters by phone that people were buying sweets and handing them out on the streets.

A police spokesman in Tehran said authorities would not intervene in the celebrations as long as no laws or religious morals were being violated.

Residents said public festivities were more subdued in less well-off south and east Tehran.

A news conference announcing the deal achieved in marathon talks in Vienna was broadcast live on state TV. So was a speech by U.S. President Barack Obama, an event almost inconceivable until recent months. Iranians gathered around TVs at home and in shops to watch it.

The deal will mean an end to sanctions which have caused economic hardship, particularly over the past three years when Tehran was stripped of access to the international financial system, making it difficult to sell oil and pay for imports.

It was a triumph for Rouhani, a pragmatist elected overwhelmingly two years ago on a promise to reduce the isolation of the country of 80 million people.