Iran nuclear deal: a picture that said a thousand words

One question above all haunted the Iran nuclear talks.

Did the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei support the final deal?

Khamenei had always seemed to leave his options open either way.

The question was critical throughout the negotiations.

One of the most exciting aspects of reporting Iran is that you find things out very serendipitously. The six-thousand-year-old civilisation expresses itself in weird and wonderful ways.

When the signal dawned.. we all missed it.

It came with the death of President Rouhani’s mother, just a few days into the final round of nuclear talks.

It is extremely unusual for the Supreme Leader to take time out to visit the family of the dead.

But hey presto! What did Khamenei decide to do, why, he went straight round to old mother Rouhani’s home to sit with her son.. the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani.

And so here in the midst of their country’s nuclear talks, we have it.

Spritual and temporal leaders pictured in animated conversation together without an apparent care in the world.

The image was quickly shown on Iranian TV. No one else understood the significance of it…

Feast on it, for it is a defining moment in our times!

Follow @jonsnow on Twitter