Prominent science journalist Richard Stone says the agreement between Iran and six global powers over Tehran’s nuclear program heralds a new era of cooperation between Iranian and Western scientists.

He made the comments during a seminar on science journalism and diplomacy, organized by the Iranian Association for the Popularization of Sciences and National Research Institute for Science Policy, in the capital Tehran on Wednesday, July 29.

Stone noted that there is a good prospect for a closer scientific relationship between Iran and the United States in the post-sanctions Iran, and expressed hope that the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and its Iranian peers would help connecting the scientists in the two countries.

Prior to his visit to Iran, Stone had written in article for the Science that the nuclear accord would see scientists from Iran and abroad team up in areas as diverse as fusion, neutrino astronomy, and cancer therapy using radioisotopes.

He also said that Robert Rosner, a theoretical physicist at the University of Chicago in Illinois and former director of Argonne National Laboratory, believes Iranian and US nuclear scientists have much to learn from each other. “Iran has world-caliber scientists and engineers, and they have been in the thick of doing that. I can imagine which way information may flow… When scientists get together, differences always fall away,” Stone quoted Rosner as saying.

Professor Stone is the international news editor of the Science Magazine and largely oversees coverage of stories pertaining to science and science policy in Asia, Russia, and the Middle East. The Science is published by the AAAS, a non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists and supporting scientific education around the globe.