Iran will continue to be a source of instability in the region after the nuclear deal聽for time if not in聽perpetuity, said Robby Barrett, an expert from Middle East Institute on Saturday.
Barrett said that there is a tendency to go overboard hailing the agreement as a new beginning or as a western cave-in for Iran.
"It is neither. Short of another war, it was best that the West could hope for in containing Iranian nuclear ambitions given the current circumstances," he said.
He added that it would be truly revolutionary if the overall policies of the Islamic Republic were to change but that is unlikely to happen.
According to Barrett, the Iranians frankly see themselves as the arbiters of Gulf security and neither the West nor the Arabs will agree to that.
"Iran made the agreement as a tactical move to get economic relief. Power factions their oppose it. The question is will it be followed and for how long," Barrett noted.
Negotiators in the Austrian capital of Vienna signed a final agreement Tuesday, bringing to a close nearly two years of contentious talks that focused on providing Iran with dire needed sanctions relief in return for unprecedented curbs and inspections on its nuclear program.
- Saudi Arabia and Israel concerned
Maha Yahya, a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center said that Saudi Arabia and Israel are both concerned about the deal because they sense that this deal signals a shift in approach or a paradigm shift in the way in which the region is viewed by the U.S.
"Basically,聽it is a reshuffling of the decks in a profound manner and in ways that will impact the regional balance of power in unexpected ways. This will not happen tomorrow," she said adding that however the ground is prepared through this deal.
Yahya said the reaction of Riyadh and Tel Aviv is still not clear.
"聽At this point, Iran clearly to spend money internally as it is suffering from considerable socio-economic deficits and Iranian citizens are increasingly impoverished," she added
The nuclear agreement聽allows lifting of sanctions on Iran in exchange for allowing inspections of its nuclear sites.
When sanctions are聽removed, it is expected that Iran will increase聽its oil and natural gas exports and production.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
murat.temizer@aa.com.tr