Dunedin’s Iranian community was left ‘‘angry’’ and ‘‘disappointed’’ yesterday, after United States President Donald Trump announced a ‘‘deal’’ to end the war with Iran had been reached.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced an official signing ceremony would be held on Friday in Switzerland.
While the precise terms of the deal were not immediately known, Mr Sharif said the pact called for ‘‘the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon’’.
The deal also allows the present Iranian regime to remain in power.
In his social media post, Mr Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would be open ‘‘toll free’’ and the US naval blockade would end.
A senior Iranian official earlier told Reuters that, under the terms of the draft deal, the United States would agree to release $US25 billion ($NZ42.8b) of frozen Iranian assets, while Iran would agree not to produce or acquire nuclear weapons.
The official said Iran agreed to maintain the nuclear status quo, including no uranium enrichment or expanding nuclear facilities, until a final deal is reached.
Multiple sources previously told Reuters Iran’s nuclear programme would be addressed during a 60-day period of additional talks.
Thousands of people have been killed, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, since the US and Israeli forces began attacks on Iran on February 28.
Iranian University of Otago tourism student Maryam Sadin was ‘‘angry, disappointed, and unhappy’’ with the deal.
‘‘We all feel the same way.
‘‘We wanted a regime change, we wanted to have some sort of freedom for the people living in Iran.
‘‘And that’s why a deal like this makes us even more disappointed and sad, because nothing changes in their lives over there, and the regime continues to do whatever dictatorship they have been doing.
‘‘A lot of people have died and nothing’s changed.’’
Iran was back to where it started before the war, she said.
A regime change was one of the reasons the US declared war on Iran, but yesterday, Trump said he ‘‘never cared about regime change’’.
Miss Sadin said she was sceptical the deal would hold together.
‘‘People in Iran, whether they are for the government or against the government, they are not very happy with a deal happening.
‘‘People who like the leader and who like the government, they are saying that if Iran reaches an agreement, they are going to protest.
‘‘But then again, people who are not for the government, they feel disappointed because in January, we lost so many lives because of the protests.
‘‘So even if they reach an agreement, this is not something that people would approve of or really go for, because nothing will change in the governance of Iran.’’
A fellow Iranian living in Dunedin, Roozbeh Karimi, said he was also sceptical about the deal.
‘‘We’ve had so many calls for deals.
‘‘I read in the New York Times there have been 39 times when we had already a deal or sometimes we were really close to a deal.
‘‘I personally would wait maybe two, three weeks to see if really, first of all, any of this announcement will be realised.
‘‘Israel has to stop to keep this announcement alive. And would you believe it that Israel stops?
‘‘Iran got the control over the Strait of Hormuz and I can’t believe they wouldn’t keep a little bit of control.
‘‘I don’t really believe it right now.
‘‘It’s just my feeling or my belief, but it doesn’t feel right.
‘‘Only time will tell, I guess.’’
Israel has said it was not party to the planned US-Iran deal.
