Negotiators' brushstrokes often overlooked in the quiet art of the peace deal 

The public imagines diplomacy as a contest of speeches, threats, and grand strategy, but the reality is far more mundane through small gestures that get people to trust each other long before governments do, writes Colin Sheridan

If you want to understand how peace is actually made, you have to look away from the podium. You have to look at the people and actors around the margins. Picture:iStock

In July 2015, as negotiators raced to complete what would become the Iran nuclear agreement, two men found themselves discussing something entirely unrelated to uranium enrichment. One was Ernest Moniz, the US energy secretary. The other was Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

Both were nuclear physicists. Both had studied at MIT. And when Salehi became a grandfather, Moniz arrived with baby clothes bearing the famous university’s logo. It was a small gesture. Almost absurdly small, given that the two men were attempting to resolve one of the most dangerous geopolitical disputes on Earth. Yet peace negotiations are often built from such moments.