The accord reached on Sunday by the UN Special Commissioner, Mr Richard Butler, and Baghdad is a victory for Iraq over the US and Britain, which have striven mightily to maintain the punitive sanctions regime imposed on the country following its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.
The agreement also amounts to a success for the Arab governments, Russia, China, and France, which have championed the lifting of sanctions over the past several years.
While the Arabs will be able to reinstate Iraq in the Arab fold, Russia and France can look forward to the day when they will be able to exploit major Iraqi oilfield deals and secure payment of prewar debts. In addition, China can expect preferential trade terms with Iraq.
The Arabs and the three permanent members of the UN Security Council can also claim they have been right about how to secure Iraqi compliance with UN resolutions demanding the elimination of its arms of mass destruction.
These countries have long argued that Iraq should be offered the incentive of "light at the end of the long, dark tunnel" of sanctions if it fully documents its weapons programme and destroys stocks of missiles, materiel and warheads. And this is what Mr Butler has offered Iraq.
The US and Britain, determined to coerce Iraq into compliance with UN resolutions, were able to impose their will until the crisis at the end of February caused the other permanent council members, the Arabs, and the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, to revolt against this approach, largely because of the suffering it caused.
Instead of securing Iraqi disarmament, sanctions wrecked the country's economy, destroyed its infrastructure and created great suffering among ordinary Iraqis.
Since sanctions were imposed Iraq has lost more than $125 billion in oil revenues, and 1.25 million Iraqis, the majority elderly people, women and children, have died due to lack of medical supplies and proper food.
Aid agencies working in Iraq have reported malnutrition in 25 per cent of children and epidemics of preventable diseases due to the lack of vaccines. Water contamination caused by denial of chemicals for purification and spare parts for machinery has had a devastating impact on the health of ordinary people.
Unemployment has reached a "critical level" and resulted in a crime wave. Schools lack essential teaching materials and farmers cannot grow enough food to feed the populace due to a lack of fertilisers, pesticides and seeds.
Under the UN's initial oil-for-food programme, which allows Iraq to export oil to purchase $1.1 billion worth of supplies every six months, only five to 10 per cent of immediate requirements have been met, so the revised plan, raising the sum spent to $3 billion, will still fall far short of what is needed.
And Iraq will still not be able to acquire the materials and equipment to rebuild its decayed infrastructure. The only way to arrest this deterioration, the aid agencies claim, is to lift sanctions.
If UNSCOM completes its work in Iraq within two months, as predicted by Mr Butler, this humanitarian catastrophe should make it difficult, if not impossible, for the US and Britain to postpone beyond October the lifting of sanctions.