It is safe to say that relations between Iran and the United States are at a new low. The U.S. has been bombarding Iran with bombs, and the Iranian leaders have responded by striking targets in the Persian Gulf or restricting the transit of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
It’s not a new thing: the U.S. has been at war with Iran for many decades, ever since it helped to overthrow Mohammed Mossadegh in August 1953, a prime minister who was pro-democracy. U.S. supported the long, brutal reign of Shah of Iran whose security forces tortured Iranians for many decades.
Since Iranian students took control of the U.S. Embassy at Tehran in November, 1979 there have been economic sanctions and a severance of diplomatic relations.
The U.S. State Department lists Iran on its list of “state sponsors of terrorism” since 1984. It alleges that the Iranian government supplies terrorists with money, weapons, and training.
Some major events that occurred in U.S.
– Iran relations highlighted the differing views of both nations, while others presented real chances for reconciliation.
1953: US Overthrows Mossadegh
Mohammed Mossadegh. Wikimedia Commons
The Iranian parliament chose Mossadegh as its new premier in 1951. He then convinced lawmakers to approve the takeover of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
They expelled the British owners, and declared that they wanted oil profits to be invested in the Iranian nation. The U.S. was worried that the oil supply would be disrupted and Iran could fall under Soviet influence.
The British were worried about the price of Iranian oil.
Dwight Eisenhower, President of the United States and Britain at the time, decided that it would be best to remove Mossadegh.
Operation Ajax was a joint CIA and British operation that convinced Iran’s ruler, Shah, to forcefully remove Mossadegh from his office. Mossadegh’s position was taken over by a prime minister who had been hand-picked by CIA.
Demonstrators at Tehran are demanding the creation of an Islamic Republic. AP Photo/Saris
1979: revolutionaries ouster the Shah, take hostages
The Iranian public, after more than 25 year of relative stability between the U.S. and Iran relations, had become dissatisfied with the economic and social conditions which developed during the dictatorial regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Pahlavi was wealthy and used American assistance to finance the military, while most Iranians were living in poverty. SAVAK (the shah’s security service) violently suppressed dissent. The shah was rumored to have left Iran in January 1979 for cancer treatment.
Ayatollah Rouhollah Khoeinei, who had been in exile from Iraq for two weeks, returned to Iran and began a campaign of abolition and the establishment of an Islamic state.
Iranian students in the U.S. embassy in Tehran, in November 1979, show an American hostage blindfolded to the crowd. AP Photo
Jimmy Carter, president of the United States at the time, agreed in October 1979 to let the shah come to America for advanced medical care. On November 4, 52 Americans were taken hostage by angry Iranian students who stormed into the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Carter was convinced by this and cut off diplomatic relations between the United States and Iran on April 7 1980.
Eight U.S.
Servicemembers were killed in aircraft crashes two weeks after the U.S. Military launched its rescue mission.
After 444 days, the shah of Egypt died on July 20, 1980. But, his hostages were not released until January 20, 1981.
In May 1988, an Iranian cleric and a soldier wore gas masks as protection against Iraqi chemical weapon attacks. Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images
The US is tacitly siding with Iraq from 1980-1988
Iraq invaded Iran in September 1980. This was an increase of regional rivalry between the two countries and their religious differences. Iraq had Sunni Muslims as its rulers, but Iran’s population was mostly Shiites.
Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally and a major oil producer in the Middle East, was also concerned about the impact of the conflict on the U.S.
In his battle against Iran’s anti-American regime, the U.S. helped Saddam Hussein. The U.S.
largely turned a blind-eye to Iraq’s use chemical weapons against Iran.
The U.S. State Department moderated its usual opposition against these illegal and inhumane arms because it did not want to “play into Iran’s hand by fueling their propaganda against Iraq.” Over 500,000 soldiers and 100,000 civilians were killed.
Secret US weapons sales to Iran between 1981-1986
After Iran was declared a sponsor of terror in 1984, the U.S. placed an embargo on all arms. The Iranian military was left in the middle its war against Iraq with a desperate need for aircraft, vehicle and weapon parts.
Reagan’s administration believed that an embargo on Iran would push it to look for support in the Soviet Union (the Cold War adversary of the U.S.). Instead of formally ending the embargo in 1980, U.S.
officials decided to sell secret weapons to Iran.
In October 1986, the last anti-tank rockets were shipped. A Lebanese publication exposed the agreement in November 1986. This revelation led to the Iran-Contra Scandal in the U.S. Reagan’s officials were found guilty of illegally sending money to the Contras in Nicaragua, who are anti-socialists rebels.
A sign depicting this incident is held by mourners at a funeral mass for 76 out of the 290 victims of the Iran Air 655 shooting. AP Photo/CP/Mohammad Sayyad
The US Navy shot down Iran Air Flight 655
In the early morning hours of 8 July 1988, while engaged in an exchange of fire with Iranian gunboats, USS Vincennes – a cruiser equipped with guided missiles – entered Iranian territory.
The Vincennes crew mistakenly mistook an Airbus civilian passenger plane passing by for a F-14 Iranian fighter, either during the exchange of fire or shortly after.
The crew shot down the plane, killing all of its 290 passengers.
Iran, however, believed that the downing of the aircraft was deliberate. The U.S. paid Iran US$131.8 Million in 1996 as compensation.
Contact with the US in 1997-1998
Mohammad Khatami won the Iranian presidential elections in August 1997.
Bill Clinton saw an opportunity. He sent a message to Tehran through the Swiss ambassador there, proposing direct government-to-government talks.
Khatami then gave a CNN interview in January 1998 in which he said that he had “respect” for “the great American people”, denounced the terrorists and suggested an exchange of “professors, writers and scholars, artists and journalists, and tourists between Iran and the United States.”
The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei did not agree.
As Clinton’s term in office ended, the reciprocal overtures were not very successful.
George W. Bush described Iran, Iraq, and North Korea in his 2002 State of the Union Address as an “Axis of Evil”, supporting terrorism, and seeking weapons of mass devastation, further straining the relations.
The Natanz Nuclear Facility in Iran has a number of buildings where technicians enrich uranium.
AP Photo/Vahid Salemi
Iran’s Nuclear Program Alarming
An exiled group of rebels announced in August 2002 that Iran was secretly developing nuclear weapons on two sites that were not publicly disclosed.
This was in violation of terms of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that Iran signed.
The treaty requires countries to reveal their nuclear facilities to international inspections.
Natanz was one of these formerly-secret locations.
It housed centrifuges that could enrich uranium for use in civil nuclear reactors, or further enriched for weapons.
In 2005 or so, U.S. government and Israeli cyberattackers jointly targeted Natanz centrifuges using a malicious piece of software they had created. This malware was called Stuxnet.
This was just one of the many U.S.-led international efforts – most unsuccessful – that were made to halt Iran’s march towards building a nuke.
Iran writes to Bush Administration
A 2003 document, sent by Iran via the Swiss Government to the U.S. State Department, appears to be a request for talks between Iran and the U.S.
Washington Post on Scribd
Senior Iranian officials contacted the State Department in May 2003 through the Swiss Embassy in Iran. They sought “a dialog ‘in reciprocal respect'”, addressing the four major issues of nuclear weapons, Palestinian resistance, stability in Iraq, and terrorism.
Although Secretary of State Colin Powell was in favor of dialogue, and others had already met with Iran to discuss al-Qaida, the hardliners within the Bush administration were not interested in reconciliation.
The opportunity was lost when Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, a hardliner Iranian politician, became president of Iran in Iran. Ahmadinejad’s own invitation to Washington was made in an 18 page letter to Bush the following year. It was widely ignored; one senior State Department official said in profane language that the letter meant nothing.
In July 2015, representatives of various nations met in Vienna to finalize Iran’s nuclear deal. Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs/Flickr
2015: Iran nuclear deal signed
In 2013, after ten years of failed attempts to curb Iran’s nuclear aspirations, the Obama Administration began a diplomatic campaign that was based on direct diplomacy.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal) is the culmination of two years of direct, secret negotiations between Iran and the U.S., initially bilaterally, and then with other nuclear-armed countries.
Iran, China, France Germany Russia, United Kingdom and United States signed the agreement in 2015.
The agreement severely restricted Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, and required that international inspectors oversee and enforce Iran’s compliance.
Iran received relief from U.S. and international economic sanctions in return. Although the inspections confirmed that Iran complied with the terms of the agreement, Donald Trump rescinded the agreement in April 2018.
US drones kill Iranian Maj. General Qassem Solimani
A drone from the United States fired a missile on Jan. 3, 2020 that hit Maj.
Gen. Qassem Solimani, leader of Iran’s elite Quds force. Analysts considered Soleimani to be the second-most powerful person in Iran after Ayatollah Khmenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader.
The Trump administration claimed that Soleimani had been directing an attack on U.S. assets within the region. However, officials did not provide clear evidence that this claim was true.
Iran retaliated by firing ballistic missiles at two American bases located in Iraq.
The billboard features a portrait featuring Maj.
Gen. Qassem Solimani. Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto by Getty Images
Attacks on Israel in 2023
Hamas’ brazen attack against Israel in October 2023 provoked an apprehensive militarized reaction from Israel.
This response continues to this day and has served as a severe weakening of Iran’s proxy in the region. Especially Hamas, the perpetrators, and Hezbollah, in Lebanon.
Trump 2.0 in 2025 and Iran
Trump saw the opportunity as an initial to negotiate a nuclear agreement with Iran, and pursue business with Tehran.
Steve Witkoff is a friend of the president and a real-estate investor. He was appointed as the special Middle East envoy by Trump after his second election.
Washington and Tehran started negotiations for a nuke deal in April. However, the two countries failed to reach an agreement. Israel’s airstrikes against Iran on June 13 forced the White House into rethinking its position.
The U.S. decided to take decisive action on June 22 in the morning to try to weaken Iran’s nuke capability. They bombed three sites, causing “severe damages” according to Pentagon officials.
Trump claimed that the Iranian nuclear sites were “totally destroyed” during this 12-day war, a claim Tehran denied.
The simmering conflict will turn into a hot war in 2026
The U.S. and Iranian governments held successive indirect discussions in early 2026.
The talks followed a period of unrest that saw Trump tell protesters in Iran, “help is coming.”
On February 28, Israel and the U.S. began bombing Iran, in a joint operation that the U.S.
dubbed “Epic Fury”. In this initial airstrike, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and senior Islamic Republic members were all killed. Tehran then responded to the attack by striking targets in the Gulf region, escalating the conflict.
This is an update of the story that was originally published in June 2025.
