Eighteen months after picking up the phone to Barack Obama with an historic message of reconciliation, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has secured the outline nuclear agreement he expects to end his country’s isolation. Succeeding where two Iranian presidents before him failed, Rouhani’s envoys on Thursday struck an accord with world powers that limits Iran’s nuclear work in exchange for eventual relief from punishing sanctions. Diplomats, who hours earlier had appeared worn out and doubtful of the prospects, now have three months to hammer out the details of a final pact and complete the job. The deal comes as welcome news to Iranians fed up with years of stagnation, rising prices and few jobs. Rouhani’s political opponents, who dominate parliament and see his agenda as a challenge to the tenets of the Islamic revolution and the nation’s sovereignty, will likely regroup and come out fighting. Rouhani “based his electoral campaign […]