{"id":1601,"date":"2025-06-18T10:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T10:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/?p=1601"},"modified":"2025-06-18T10:00:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T10:00:22","slug":"us-and-iran-have-a-long-complicated-history-spanning-far-beyond-israels-strikes-on-tehran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/us-and-iran-have-a-long-complicated-history-spanning-far-beyond-israels-strikes-on-tehran\/","title":{"rendered":"US and Iran have a long, complicated history, spanning far beyond Israel\u2019s strikes on Tehran"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jeffrey Fields, Professor of the Practice of International Relations, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Relations between the United States and Iran have been fraught for decades \u2013 at least since the U.S. helped overthrow a democracy-minded prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh<\/a>, in August 1953. The U.S. then supported the long, repressive reign of the Shah of Iran, whose security services brutalized Iranian citizens<\/a> for decades.<\/p>\n

The two countries have been particularly hostile to each other since Iranian students took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in November 1979, resulting in economic sanctions<\/a> and the severing of formal diplomatic relations<\/a> between the nations.<\/p>\n

Since 1984, the U.S. State Department has listed Iran as a \u201cstate sponsor of terrorism<\/a>,\u201d alleging the Iranian government provides terrorists with training, money and weapons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some of the major events in U.S.-Iran relations highlight the differences between the nations\u2019 views, but others arguably presented real opportunities for reconciliation.<\/p>\n

1953: US overthrows Mossadegh<\/h2>\n
\n
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Mohammed Mossadegh.<\/span>
\nWikimedia Commons<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1951, the Iranian Parliament chose a new prime minister, Mossadegh, who then led lawmakers to vote in favor of taking over the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company<\/a>, expelling the company\u2019s British owners and saying they wanted to turn oil profits into investments in the Iranian people. The U.S. feared disruption in the global oil supply and worried about Iran falling prey to Soviet influence. The British feared the loss of cheap Iranian oil.<\/p>\n

President Dwight Eisenhower decided it was best for the U.S. and the U.K. to get rid of Mossadegh. Operation Ajax, a joint CIA-British operation<\/a>, convinced the Shah of Iran, the country\u2019s monarch, to dismiss Mossadegh and drive him from office by force. Mossadegh was replaced by a much more Western-friendly prime minister, handpicked by the CIA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1979: Revolutionaries oust the shah, take hostages<\/h2>\n

After more than 25 years<\/a> of relative stability in U.S.-Iran relations, the Iranian public had grown unhappy<\/a> with the social and economic conditions that developed under the dictatorial rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.<\/p>\n

Pahlavi enriched himself and used American aid to fund the military while many Iranians lived in poverty. Dissent was often violently quashed by SAVAK, the shah\u2019s security service<\/a>. In January 1979, the shah left Iran<\/a>, ostensibly to seek cancer treatment. Two weeks later, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile<\/a> in Iraq and led a drive to abolish the monarchy and proclaim an Islamic government.<\/p>\n

In October 1979, President Jimmy Carter agreed to allow the shah<\/a> to come to the U.S. to seek advanced medical treatment. Outraged Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy<\/a> in Tehran on Nov. 4, taking 52 Americans hostage. That convinced Carter to sever U.S. diplomatic relations with Iran on April 7, 1980.<\/p>\n

Two weeks later, the U.S. military launched a mission to rescue the hostages, but it failed, with aircraft crashes<\/a> killing eight U.S. servicemembers.<\/p>\n

The shah died in Egypt in July 1980, but the hostages weren\u2019t released until Jan. 20, 1981, after 444 days of captivity.<\/p>\n

1980-1988: US tacitly sides with Iraq<\/h2>\n

In September 1980, Iraq invaded Iran<\/a>, an escalation of the two countries\u2019 regional rivalry and religious differences: Iraq was governed by Sunni Muslims but had a Shia Muslim majority population; Iran was led and populated mostly by Shiites<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The U.S. was concerned that the conflict would limit the flow of Middle Eastern oil and wanted to ensure the conflict didn\u2019t affect its close ally, Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

The U.S. supported Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein<\/a> in his fight against the anti-American Iranian regime. As a result, the U.S. mostly turned a blind eye toward Iraq\u2019s use of chemical weapons<\/a> against Iran.<\/p>\n

U.S. officials moderated their usual opposition to those illegal and inhumane weapons because the U.S. State Department did not \u201cwish to play into Iran\u2019s hands<\/a> by fueling its propaganda against Iraq.\u201d In 1988, the war ended in a stalemate<\/a>. More than 500,000 military and 100,000 civilians died.<\/p>\n

1981-1986: US secretly sells weapons to Iran<\/h2>\n

The U.S. imposed an arms embargo<\/a> after Iran was designated a state sponsor of terrorism in 1984. That left the Iranian military, in the middle of its war with Iraq, desperate for weapons and aircraft and vehicle parts to keep fighting.<\/p>\n

The Reagan administration decided that the embargo would likely push Iran<\/a> to seek support from the Soviet Union, the U.S.\u2019s Cold War rival. Rather than formally end the embargo, U.S. officials agreed to secretly sell weapons to Iran<\/a> starting in 1981.<\/p>\n

The last shipment, of anti-tank missiles, was in October 1986. In November 1986, a Lebanese magazine exposed the deal. That revelation sparked the Iran-Contra scandal in the U.S., with Reagan\u2019s officials found to have collected money from Iran for the weapons and illegally sent those funds to anti-socialist rebels<\/a> \u2013 the Contras \u2013 in Nicaragua.<\/p>\n

1988: US Navy shoots down Iran Air flight 655<\/h2>\n

On the morning of July 8, 1988, the USS Vincennes, a guided missile cruiser patrolling in the international waters of the Persian Gulf, entered Iranian territorial waters<\/a> while in a skirmish with Iranian gunboats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Either during or just after that exchange of gunfire, the Vincennes crew mistook a passing civilian Airbus passenger jet for an Iranian F-14 fighter. They shot it down, killing all 290 people aboard.<\/p>\n

The U.S. called it a \u201ctragic and regrettable accident<\/a>,\u201d but Iran believed the plane\u2019s downing was intentional. In 1996, the U.S. agreed to pay US$131.8 million in compensation to Iran.<\/p>\n

1997-1998: The US seeks contact<\/h2>\n

In August 1997, a moderate reformer, Mohammad Khatami, won Iran\u2019s presidential election.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Bill Clinton sensed an opportunity. He sent a message to Tehran<\/a> through the Swiss ambassador there, proposing direct government-to-government talks.<\/p>\n

Shortly thereafter, in early January 1998, Khatami gave an interview to CNN in which he expressed \u201crespect for the great American people<\/a>,\u201d denounced terrorism and recommended an \u201cexchange of professors, writers, scholars, artists, journalists and tourists\u201d between the United States and Iran.<\/p>\n

However, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei didn\u2019t agree, so not much came of the mutual overtures as Clinton\u2019s time in office came to an end.<\/p>\n

In his 2002 State of the Union address<\/a>, President George W. Bush characterized Iran, Iraq and North Korea as constituting an \u201cAxis of Evil\u201d supporting terrorism and pursuing weapons of mass destruction, straining relations even further.<\/p>\n

2002: Iran\u2019s nuclear program raises alarm<\/h2>\n

In August 2002, an exiled rebel group announced that Iran had been secretly working on nuclear weapons<\/a> at two installations that had not previously been publicly revealed.<\/p>\n

That was a violation of the terms of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty<\/a>, which Iran had signed, requiring countries to disclose their nuclear-related facilities to international inspectors.<\/p>\n

One of those formerly secret locations, Natanz, housed centrifuges for enriching uranium, which could be used in civilian nuclear reactors or enriched further for weapons.<\/p>\n

Starting in roughly 2005, U.S. and Israeli government cyberattackers together reportedly targeted the Natanz centrifuges with a custom-made piece of malicious software that became known as Stuxnet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That effort, which slowed down Iran\u2019s nuclear program<\/a> was one of many U.S. and international attempts<\/a> \u2013 mostly unsuccessful \u2013 to curtail Iran\u2019s progress toward building a nuclear bomb.<\/p>\n

2003: Iran writes to Bush administration<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

In May 2003, senior Iranian officials quietly contacted the State Department<\/a> through the Swiss embassy in Iran, seeking \u201ca dialogue \u2018in mutual respect,\u2019\u201d addressing four big issues: nuclear weapons, terrorism, Palestinian resistance and stability in Iraq.<\/p>\n

Hardliners in the Bush administration weren\u2019t interested in any major reconciliation<\/a>, though Secretary of State Colin Powell favored dialogue and other officials had met with Iran about al-Qaida.<\/p>\n

When Iranian hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president of Iran in 2005, the opportunity died. The following year, Ahmadinejad made his own overture to Washington<\/a> in an 18-page letter to President Bush. The letter was widely dismissed; a senior State Department official told me<\/a> in profane terms that it amounted to nothing<\/p>\n

2015: Iran nuclear deal signed<\/h2>\n

After a decade of unsuccessful attempts to rein in Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions, the Obama administration undertook a direct diplomatic approach beginning in 2013.<\/p>\n

Two years of secret, direct negotiations<\/a> initially bilaterally between the U.S. and Iran and later with other nuclear powers culminated in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action<\/a>, often called the Iran nuclear deal.<\/p>\n

Two years of secret, direct negotiations<\/a> conducted bilaterally at first between the U.S. and Iran and later with other nuclear powers culminated in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action<\/a>, often called the Iran nuclear deal.<\/p>\n

Iran, the U.S., China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom signed the deal in 2015. It severely limited Iran\u2019s capacity to enrich uranium and mandated that international inspectors monitor and enforce Iran\u2019s compliance<\/a> with the agreement.<\/p>\n

In return, Iran was granted relief from international and U.S. economic sanctions. Though the inspectors regularly certified that Iran was abiding by the agreement\u2019s terms, President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in May 2018.<\/p>\n

2020: US drones kill Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

On Jan. 3, 2020, an American drone fired a missile that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran\u2019s elite Quds Force<\/a>. Analysts considered Soleimani the second most powerful man<\/a> in Iran, after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.<\/p>\n

At the time, the Trump administration asserted that Soleimani was directing an imminent attack against U.S. assets in the region, but officials have not provided clear evidence<\/a> to support that claim.<\/p>\n

Iran responded by launching ballistic missiles<\/a> that hit two American bases in Iraq.<\/p>\n

2023: The Oct. 7 attacks on Israel<\/h2>\n

Hamas\u2019 brazen attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, provoked a fearsome militarized response from Israel that continues today and served to severely weaken Iran\u2019s proxies<\/a> in the region, especially Hamas \u2013 the perpetrator of the attacks \u2013 and Hezbollah in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

2025: Trump 2.0 and Iran<\/h2>\n

Trump saw an opportunity to forge a new nuclear deal with Iran and to pursue other business deals<\/a> with Tehran. Once inaugurated for his second term, Trump appointed Steve Witkoff<\/a>, a real estate investor who is the president\u2019s friend, to serve as special envoy for the Middle East and to lead negotiations.<\/p>\n

Negotiations for a nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran began in April, but the countries did not reach a deal. They were planning a new round of talks when Israel struck Iran with a series of airstrikes on June 13, forcing the White House to reconsider is position<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This article written by Jeffrey Fields, Professor of the Practice of International Relations, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences<\/strong> and is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jeffrey Fields, Professor of the Practice of International Relations, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Relations between the United States and Iran have been fraught for decades \u2013 at least since the U.S. helped overthrow a democracy-minded prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, in August 1953. The U.S. then supported the long, repressive reign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":1586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[187,171,183,190,186,195,172,173,177,189,191,179,188,176,192,180,175,181,184,196,169,185,174,193,178,194,182],"class_list":["post-1601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","tag-american-diplomacy","tag-axis-of-evil","tag-george-w-bush","tag-hamas-attacks","tag-hezbollah","tag-international-relations","tag-iran-air-flight-655","tag-iran-contra-affair","tag-iran-iraq-war","tag-iran-sanctions","tag-jeffrey-fields","tag-joint-comprehensive-plan-of-action","tag-middle-east-politics","tag-mossadegh-coup","tag-nuclear-negotiations","tag-obama-iran-nuclear-deal","tag-operation-ajax","tag-qassem-soleimani","tag-state-sponsor-of-terrorism","tag-stuxnetcyberattack","tag-the-conversation","tag-trump-iran-policy","tag-us-embassy-tehran-hostage-crisis","tag-us-foreign-policy","tag-us-iran-relations","tag-us-navy","tag-usc-dornsife-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}