Ayed: What was the most significant development in international affairs this year?

It was without a doubt the interim agreement between Iran and Western countries on curbing its nuclear capability – because it changed many fundamental “givens,” not just in Iran, the Middle East as a whole, but across the world. There is still much work to be done to conclude a permanent arrangement, but the sight of American and Iranian officials concluding any kind of deal – even an interim one – on anything, after 30 years of estrangement, was a watershed moment.

A close second was the Russia/U.S. agreement to avert a strike in Syria and destroy its vast chemical arsenal.