BUT ONE BIG WINNER...THE IRANIAN PEOPLE:

The biggest winner in the deal is clearly the Iranian people. The so-called "intelligent" sanctions have been intended to hit primarily those in power in Iran. Sanctions against oil and gas exports were instituted to restrict the wellspring of the theocracy's finances in a serious and enduring fashion. And in fact, measures taken by Iran's international opponents largely succeeded in reaching those goals. However, the sanctions enriched with intelligence have also caused much more damage than planned, and it was primarily the Iranian people who bore the brunt.

Thanks to a rather inexplicable sense of national pride, some Iranians stood behind the regime's strange atomic program. But when you're starving, yellowcakes are hardly an alternative to bread. The Iranian people wanted a quick escape from isolation. They hoped for an improvement of economic conditions through a relaxing or even a removal of sanctions, sought greater openness from the country's political leaders and desired more rights and freedom.

The election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was the product of these demands, and Iranians were hoping for a miracle in Geneva.

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