14 Jul, 2015 17:23

#IranDeal as seen online: New horizons or impending Apocalypse?

With #IranDeal one of the top trending topics on Twitter on Tuesday, opinions of both politicians and thousands of social network users split as of whether the hard-reached nuclear agreement is a victory of democracy or the beginning of the end.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's post ahead of the official announcement of the deal is among the most popular #IranDeal tweets. The Iranian official called the result of the years-long talks a "triumph of diplomacy."

If #IranDeal reached, triumph of diplomacy means we all will have won when we all could have lost. Plain and simple; no spin needed.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) July 13, 2015

The deal was also praised by his president, Hassan Rouhani, who called the previous years of standoff between Iran and the West an "unnecessary crisis."

#IranDeal shows constructive engagement works. With this unnecessary crisis resolved, new horizons emerge with a focus on shared challenges.
— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) July 14, 2015

Let the #IranDeal memes begin. Caption says: There has been an agreement, brother. Come [dance] in the middle. pic.twitter.com/dXenCdK3F5
— Adrienne Mahsa (@iranianamrikai) July 14, 2015

Iranians massively followed the official Iranian line, celebrating the "new horizons" with excitement, singing and honking horns in the streets.

Cars start honking 4 #IranDeal in major streets in Tehran, ppl excited,getting ready 2 go 2 the streets #IranTalks pic.twitter.com/ooSwDWCjxc
— Omid Memarian (@Omid_M) July 14, 2015

Heading to press conference announcing #IranDeal, Iranian journalists on bus all singing children's songs, v happy mood. #IranTalksVienna
— Lindsey Hilsum (@lindseyhilsum) July 14, 2015

Watching #IranDeal in Tehran pic.twitter.com/TEGytDR4Hx
— Sobhan Hassanvand (@Hassanvand) July 14, 2015

While Western officials involved in the talks were also "applauding" the "historic" agreement and taking “happy family” pictures, some people protested in Vienna, chanting "bad deal!" outside the talks’ venue. The group reportedly included tourists from Atlanta and some Israelis.

#UNSG Ban Ki-moon applauds 'historic' #IranDeal http://t.co/2oA9iJCN9R pic.twitter.com/cU981KEm8b
— UN News Centre (@UN_News_Centre) July 14, 2015

#IranTalks| Ministerial family picture with EU, Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, UK and US @FedericaMog pic.twitter.com/LJE9eFbqtS
— Catherine Ray (@CatherineEUspox) July 14, 2015

#IranTalksVienna oh my god pic.twitter.com/xhyLsccdX9
— Arian Faal (@ArianFaal) July 13, 2015

Probably the fiercest opponent of the deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the "historic" deal was a "historic mistake."

Sorry Bibi! #IranDeal is here pic.twitter.com/Lr7freJYjD
— Mahdi Taghizadeh (@mahdi) July 14, 2015

"When you are ready to make an agreement at any price - this is the result. With the first reports it can be already determined that this agreement is another historic mistake," Netanyahu wrote in Hebrew.

כשמוכנים לעשות הסכם בכל מחיר - זאת התוצאה. מהדיווחים הראשונים שמגיעים אפשר לקבוע כבר עכשיו שההסכם הזה הוא טעות היסטורית לעולם.
— בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) July 14, 2015

To make his point even clearer for wider target audiences, Netanyahu’s office added Persian to the mix of several languages it already tweets in. One of the first posts on the Twitter feed in Farsi restated the point that #IranDeal would pave the way for Tehran to get "atomic bomb and billions of dollars for terrorism."

با ادامهی نمایش سازشپذیری با ایران راه رسیدن ایران به بمب اتمی هموار شده و میلیارد ها دلار برای تروریسم و تهاجم در اختیارایشان قرار میگیرد
— نخستوزیر اسرائيل (@israelipm_farsi) July 13, 2015

I don't really know enough about #IranDeal to have an opinion, but my instinct is to agree with it because Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't.
— Jim Hulbert (@Jim_Hulbert) July 14, 2015

Israeli leader of a right-wing religious party versus the founder and current president of the National Iranian American Council...

On July 14th, 2015 a terror nuclear superpower is born. Israel will defend itself.
— Naftali Bennett (@naftalibennett) July 14, 2015

#IranDeal may not just transform US-Iran ties. Can also pave way for US foreign policy paradigm shift away from militarism towards diplomacy
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) July 14, 2015

#IranDeal has yet to be reviewed and approved by Congress, with US President Barack Obama likely to run into significant difficulties in winning such approval, as both Republican and Democrat members have aired skepticism. Some Americans say the congressional decision might be the last chance in saving the world from a nuclear end.

GOP better do whatever they can to kill this deal Obama is the worse negotiator God help us #IranDeal
— Parriah Pottymouth (@PariahPotimouth) July 14, 2015

This is how we will know /VERIFY if Iran has kept its side of the Nuke deal. #IranDeal #NukeDeal pic.twitter.com/ddjiGFmvEw
— Master of Disaster (@prepperknowhow) July 14, 2015

But President Rouhani has repeatedly said Iran has never "sought to manufacture a nuclear weapon," and will never do so. "The whole world knows very well that manufacturing a nuclear bomb ... is considered forbidden," he said on Tuesday in a TV address following the deal's announcement.

Iranian Pres #Rouhani says it's AGAINST his #Muslim religion to develop a Nuclear bomb! Thank (Allah) he's a #Muslim, we're all safe now!
— =AmaZ'nG (@ColonelClose) September 24, 2013

So we ask what will the Iran deal mean for #Syria in real terms? pic.twitter.com/dDXuSeggPE
— Free Syria Media Hub (@Free_Media_Hub) July 14, 2015

Does the White House have to light up the front in green, white, and red tonight in homage to the Iran deal? Figure they'd concede that too.
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) July 14, 2015

With all the opposing opinions, one thing with #IranDeal is for sure - the online world does care.