living organ transplantation. the family at the center of this medal first just thankful for a successful operation, rob mcbride, al jazeera, hong kong. there is more real news from al jazeera along with analysis and video at al jazeera.com. ♪ today after two years of negotiations the united states has achieved something that decades has not. comprehensive long-term deal with iran will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon. >> america and iran two enemies in the middle east shaking hands and over the next 30 minutes i will take you through a journey

through the streets of iran to show you the sides of an nemisis you have not seen before and we will meet shop keepers and mechanics to vice presidents and even the nation's youth. it's a rare insider's when iran is changing dramatically, i was there as negotiators put the final touches on what has become a historic deal between iran and six nations led by the united states. tehran agreed to open the door to inspectors giving access to nuclear sites they used to threaten neighbors and the world. in return europe and the united states agreed to lift oil and financial sanctions that have crippled iran's economy. after 20 months of bargaining the deal is done, whether or not you support the deal there is now a deal, agreed upon by iran and the world's powers. the iranian street is alive with talk of what is to come but to really make sense of it all you have to go there. i had to be there to talk to people, to understand their

history and to listen to their stories, i had to go behind the deal. ♪ the first thoughts when i landed were about how everyone who i had seen looked very different. you didn't have to have your head covered on the plane but as soon as you got that plan you were in iran and you needed to put your head dress on is what they needed to do to get in the country and not get in trouble, the police in iran. when i drove in and the sun came up and we were in the hotel and had a good view of tehran the city that came to mind is los angeles. there are cities and mountains and it's relatively flat otherwise and it's spread out and there are freeways everywhere and they are heavily trafficked, high rises,

apartment buildings and commercial areas with low slum buildings for shopping. we sort of rolled with a team of five. there was our photographer, my producer, our handler who is a representative of the agencies who handle you on behalf of the government and mostly they help you because it's a state when you are shooting for t.v. you get stopped all the time by various levels of police all the time. we had little i.d. cards we carried they made for us and the papers that said we had permission to shoot but it didn't really matter. this is a society where they check your papers and asked their friend if they think it's okay so the handler helps you out and went with us morning and night. there are a few levels of different story you get, one with the cameras on with the government minder there with his phone recording the conversation. that is the least story you get.

then you get a different story with the camera off but the government minder there. somehow there is a slightly more casual feel. then you get a different story when the minor has stopped recording or maybe walked away with his phone and the cameras are off and that story actually resumels ease. it's a conversation. we actually got used to the fact that in iran everything was being watched or recorded and eventually you just don't worry about it. one guy we were looking at his auto dealership and he said no and my camera man asked him you are not doing anything illegal what are you scared of and he said this is iran and we are scared of our own shadows. >> which one this one? >> reporter: iran is a weirdly hospitable society and tell you how much better you are and it's like a game and you are constantly building up the other person and taking yourself down a notch. these people are pias and

religious and there is a beautiful environment and they feel connected to it. religion seemed be more personal in iran than i expected it to be. i expected a state religion and see and feel this everywhere and i did not and it's interesting because iran is the only theocracy but the mosques tend to be smaller and some of them are just beautiful and mind boggling and people do not wear religion on their sleeves and iran they worship that way and allowed us to be part of it and watch and i look at that scene in that mosque and our photographer walking nonstop through it and you can't help be taken by that, that there must be some good that comes out of this and it gives you a different way of looking at the world and not to say there are real problems there and people see the world differently but

the base issues are -- basics are the same. on this base. >> and america's war workers. >> it's human trafficking. >> watch these and other episodes online now at aljazeera.com/faultlines.

the carpet bizare in tehran is in the southern part of the city. it's dusty and conservative and a little more religious. we were talking to these guys who have been in a business that is ancient for persia. i mean you see the rug but there are weavers and diers and create the carpets themselves and carpets everyone in the world would think are beautiful and before the sanctions this one little shop that i was in, this

one little owner would ship a container full of these carpets to the united states every week and you buy them in fancy stores i suppose and since the sanctions he sells no carpets to the united states. his entire business so i said being the economics guy i am said this is a problem for you because if sanctions are lifted the demand for your carpets will increase and the cost of your carpets will increase. how will your business change? and he said normally the cost of the carpets will come down and i said she missing my points and he said no the cost will come down because i will sell so many more carpets my prophet margin will be produced and the same for ten or 100 carpets and he thought the whole thing through economically and everybody in iran says based on what they buy

and make and sell what will happen when sanctions are lifted and it's like they can taste it. this is like the ramadan for sanctions and can see the end of it and what their lives look like at the end of it. ♪ for years now sanctions on iran over its controversial nuclear program have taken a toll on the country's economy. but they have done little to curb iran's nuclear ambitions. it took more resent banking sanctions effectively booting iran out of the international financial system to get the iranians to the negotiating table. when i came to iran i had to bring all the cash i would need, my credit cards don't work here, nor do my atm cards and in 2012 they were pulled off the swift

system for worldwide innercity bank financial transactions, a society of 9,000 banks in most of the world's countries that allowed global trade through the transfer of money. because it's off the system, iran and iran banks and people can't move money electronically around the world. not all trade with iran is prohibited under sanctions. imports of food and drugs still allowed but to wire money or pay for them cuts people out from importing necessities like medicine. >> day-to-day i think there was not major problem but for a specific patient, for example, children, children with brain tumors there are major problems treating them. >> reporter: it's hard to see the effects of sanctions upfront. in iran shops and bizarres shelves are full of goods for

sale and brisk and looks the same with ports. but business with the rest of the world has taken a big hit because they cannot pay for imports coming in or receive payments for exports coming out. shipping volume is measured in 20-foot container equivalents and in 2010, this port, the biggest in iran handled 2.5 million 20-foot equivalent and dropped to 1.8 million, a drop of 28% and the reason for that is sanctions. the pain of sanctions is being felt across iran's export industries like oil and auto but sanctions hit iranian consumers who must also contend the hyper inflation that has devalued the currency to a third of the value since 2010. >> iranian leaders have decided to make a deal. they have decided to more or less close down the nuclear

program which they spent a lot of money on and people died for it. and in return what they want is lifting of sanctions. >> reporter: in the end the fourth belt tightnessing have pushed negotiators to prioritize lifting sanctions over preserving the country's nuclear capacity. ♪ tehran is cool and no humidity and i was pleased not to have a tie because it's hot but it's weird to me because i do my work this a uniform as it were and this does not exist in iran and you will go in government officials and meet with officials and go to the banks and nobody has a tie. the interesting thing is at one point the iatola-komani said after the revolution said dressing like this is a uniform of the west and when the shaw

was this power he had a uniform himself and tried to do it in iran and there was a real backlash when the islamic came here and they were fit and didn't see big people in tehran and it became popular after the revolution to have these sort of beards that were well kept and very closely shaved. i understand that was a sign of being one of these people that fought in the revolution or supported the revolution. women would dress a certain way according to what they deemed to be iz islamic code and all women had their head covered in public and had a ponytail or bun and i'm a bad person to illustrate this on and a head covering and you see the back of their hair and head and see most of the front of it so maybe a quarter or an 8th of their head would be covered and then you go to other areas where people were fully covered head to toe and

faces open and didn't see people with faces covered in iran and there was variation in woman but woman lightly covered had every fashion sense with them. [chanting] there is a history of hostility between iran and the united states that spans decades. for americans that history dates to 1979. >> there was more chanting and shouting today. >> reporter: that is when radical students fired up by islamic storm the u.s. embassy and the captivity lasted days and hostilities with the u.s. started a quarter century earlier when prime minister led an elected government at a time when iran was experimenting with

democracy. yet at the height of the cold war the u.s. opposed him because of his plans to nationalize iran's oil industry. back then it was dominated by british interests and u.s. leaders accused him of being a communist. >> his crime was that he was saying that this money that we get from our oil is not really enough. we need more. >> reporter: at the time iran was only getting 16% of what the british said they were making in profits off oil sales. saudi arabia and venezuela were both getting 50%. in 1953 the cia orchestrated the democratically elected prime minister putting the shaw in control and over time hatred for shaw and americans who supported him grew deep this quarters and cia occupied the former american embassy, a buildings that iranians came to refer to as a

den of spies. by 1979 iran was in the throes of iz islamic revolution. popular protests led by muslims deposed the shaw and denounced the u.s. role in supporting him. up until that point america had never faced off against a political force that used islam for motivation. things came to a head when a group of student protesters breached the walls of the embassy in thai ran and said it was on fears that the u.s. night support another coup and bring the shaw back to power. diplomatic relations were severed and the hostility grew worse over the decade. in the 1980s iran accused the u.s. of backing sedan in the iraq war and in 1988 they shot down an iran air passenger jet

off of iran's southern coast killing 290 people. the u.s. never formally apologized for the attack. despite all the bad blood over the years most iranians we talk to say they like americans, just not american foreign policy. >> i like america. i like american muscle cars. i don't hate america and my friends do. seven years has passed since the revolution so the current people we see on iran street is four years or younger have no memory of the shaw regime. they don't have a memory of americans doing bad things here and now we have the nuclear negotiations. this is actually an opportunity for the west. >> our national. >> reporter: a deal on iran's nuclear program is in place with u.s. and other world powers some are hoping it signals a new direction in this hostility but

it won't happen overnight. ♪ overnight. >> in 2003, i had a chance to in 2 pou 3 i had a chance to work as a journalist in iran and one was killed and many feel their voices have not been heard and people ask me where are you from you are holding a sign that says down with america, should i really say america? i was in my home on january 31st when at 9:00 in the morning four men from the intelligence ministry came to my home. i would be taken that evening. >> and reporter jailed in tehran. >> i was interrogated for several hours blind folded facing a wall and in solitary convinement for days. >> the charges against her are baseless and she has been subjected to a process that has

been nontransparent, unpredictable, ash arbitrary. >> and people calling for freedom and not alone. >> i said she would be free as of today. >> welcome home. [applause] i'm so pap happy to be home in the land of the free. >> i went there to learn about my native country and the language and i learned to love the country. ♪ they're at risk of disapearing in the wild. >> the new fight to save a species... >> we're looking at one of the most incredible wonders of the natural world. >> techknow's team of experts show you how the miracles of science... >> this is my selfie, what can you tell me about my future? >> can affect and surprise us. >> don't try this at home.

>> "techknow" - where technology meets humanity. only on al jazeera america.

about 10 years ago we did a ten years ago we were doing a story on a point of contention for decades.

it's the choke point where oil from the oil-producing countries go to the ocean and world and everyday the oil goes out at that point and the narrow point the distance between iran and an arab yanukovich country is 21 miles. it's a real tension point and we said we will get down there so in iran we went down and it was the middle of summer and the real feel as i pulled it up on the phone was 137 degrees and people asked us why are you going down there and we really couldn't explain it was in our destiny we were going down there. just general business trade, things going out of iran and coming in iran dropped by 27% because of the sanctions. now it's very easy to explain. you can't pay for things and how do you buy cars if you cannot transfer money? the water looks like water and the strait looks like any other

water. ♪ iran considers itself a super power in the middle east and it wants the world to give it the respect it thinks it deserves and despite agreeing to curbs on nuclear ambition's the regional influence is bound to grow as sanctions are lifted and economic isolation ends. >> it's time for american leaders and european leaders to realize they are a major player and live like with russia and same they live with china and why not iran. if they decide to do that they will encourage forces within iran that are willing and able to accommodate with some interes interests. >> reporter: one thing that iran is eager to help the west

with is confronting i.s.i.l. both iran and the u.s. back the iraqi government in the war against i.s.i.l. fighters. but in neighboring syria where i.s.i.l. also controls territory iran and the u.s. work at cross purposes, that is because they back opposing sides in syria's civil war. in fact, in almost every contentious area and issue facing the middle east today syria, israel, yemen and the flow of oil to the world, iran and the u.s. are on opposite sides. no where is that more apparent than in the strait of a narrow waterway that connects tanker traffic between the waters of the gulf and indian ocean, at the narrow point just 21 miles separates iran from the countries of arab yanukovich peninsula on the other side. this is how strategic a point

this and across the strait there are military installations in countries and iran considers that a threat and said it will mind this strait if attacked and has done it before. the navy is escorting ships through here and started doing it for other vessels too. besides military force iran has many ways of wielding power and influence in the midled el east and uses its soft power to win the hearts and minds of people living in the region. >> iran has a natural soft power in the hearts and minds of the shia populations in this part of the world and internationally. it's like the vatican for the catholics. >> reporter: voices inside iran say it's now willing to use its influence in cooperation to solve the myriad of problems consuming the middle east today. >> today iran has emerged as a

major player. the islamic revolution has a lot of influence in parts of the islamic world. there are a lot of different areas where iran can play a very prominent role. >> reporter: so we were really interested in talking to government officials and business owners and regular working people about politics and economy. i had not really scheduled to do a lot of cultural things but everybody said you have to go to this area on thursday night and thursday night in the muslim worse is like friday in the western world and we went there in winding streets and people were cruising and people had their cars and they were all shiny and nice and they would drive windows open, music playing, young guys would be on motorcycles, two or three to a motorcycle. for lack of a better word cruising for girls. i don't know. women would be together walking. we go to an art gallery opening

and they were showing this exhibition about artists who were pushing the boundaries of grafite and drawing and occurred me you are pushing the boundaries of this particular strain of art in a country that is built on not pushing the boundaries of anything, of listening to what the authorities tell you you are supposed to do. you start to wonder who are these demons, who are these people who we don't know and that isn't to say there are real problems there and that people see the world differently but the basics are the same. in the course of all my travels one thing was made clear to me about iran, there isn't one thing about iran, the country is as varied politically as culturally with hard liners and conservatives jockeying for position against liberals and moderates, sound familiar?

suspects in america and iran are lining up to tell you why the other side can't be trusted but when it comes to this nuclear agreement there is one thing that all sides can ago, it will go down in person and president obama and rouhani has a landmark task and charts a way forward for his country in largely unchartered waters and what happens next i will be here to keep you informed and take you behind the deal and i'm ali-velshi. thank you for joining us. ♪ got the chuckle, now let's really address it. >> and challenging islamophobia. >> i was performing and would say "i'm an arab american"... and you could hear a pin drop.

♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the news hour, i'm in doha, filling the iran nuclear deal to the gulf states u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in qatar. ♪ a thorn in the side of south africa's government and faces corruption charges. flooding brings uncertainty to