{{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox bilateral relations|Iran–United States|Iran|United States|map = Iran United States Locator 2.svg |mission1 = Interests Section of Iran in the Embassy of Pakistan, Washington, D.C. |mission2 = Interests Section of the United States in the Embassy of Switzerland, Tehran |envoytitle1 = Director of the Interests Section |envoy1 = Mehdi Atefat |envoytitle2 = Deputy Special Envoy |envoy2 = Abram Paley}} [[File:American–Iranian Waving Flag Icon.svg|thumb|American flag crossed with the Iranian opposition flag]] Relations between Iran and the United States in the modern day are unsettled and have a troubled history. They began in the mid-to-late 19th century, when Iran was known to the Western world as Qajar Persia. Persia was very wary of British and Russian colonial interests during the Great Game. By contrast, the United States was seen as a more trustworthy foreign power, and the Americans Arthur Millspaugh and Morgan Shuster were even appointed treasurers-general by the Shahs of the time. During World War II, Iran was invaded by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, both U.S. allies, but relations continued to be positive after the war until the later years of the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh, who was overthrown by a coup organized by the Central Intelligence Agency and aided by MI6. This was followed by an era of close alliance between Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's authoritarian regime and the U.S. government,<ref name="Ansari 2006"/> Iran being one of the U.S.'s closest allies during the Cold War,<ref>Jenkins, Philip (2006). ''Decade of Nightmares: The End of the Sixties and the Making of Eighties America: The End of the Sixties and the Making of Eighties America'' p. 153. Oxford University Press, US. {{ISBN|978-0198039723}}</ref><ref>Little, Douglas (2009). ''American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East since 1945''. p. 145. Univ of North Carolina Press. {{ISBN|978-0807877616}}</ref><ref>Murray, Donette (2009). ''US Foreign Policy and Iran: American–Iranian Relations Since the Islamic Revolution'' p. 8. Routledge. {{ISBN|978-1135219895}}</ref> which was in turn followed by a dramatic reversal and disagreement between the two countries after the 1979 Iranian Revolution.<ref name="Ansari 2006"/><ref name="ABC-CLIO">{{cite book|last1=Bayor|first1=Ronald H.|title=Multicultural America: An Encyclopedia of the Newest Americans (Vol. 2)|date=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0313357862|page=1097|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJW79Rlu-igC&q=iranian+american+800%2C000&pg=PA1097|access-date=January 7, 2016}}</ref>
The two nations have had no formal diplomatic relations since April 7, 1980.<ref name="Ansari 2006">{{cite book |author-last=Ansari |author-first=Ali M. |author-link=Ali M. Ansari |year=2006 |title=Confronting Iran: The Failure of American Foreign Policy and the Roots of Mistrust |chapter=United States and the Islamic Republic |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gOWrka2NY1AC&pg=PA93 |location=Bloomsbury, London |publisher=Hurst Publishers |pages=93–145 |isbn=9781850658092}}</ref> Instead, Pakistan serves as Iran's protecting power in the United States, while Switzerland serves as the United States' protecting power in Iran. Contacts are carried out through the Iranian Interests Section of the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C.,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.daftar.org/far/default.asp |title=Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran |access-date=June 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626003804/http://www.daftar.org/far/default.asp |archive-date=June 26, 2010}}</ref> and the U.S. Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.<ref>[https://www.eda.admin.ch/countries/iran/en/home/representations/embassy-of-switzerland-foreign-interests-section.html Embassy of Switzerland in Iran – Foreign Interests Section] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022183734/https://www.eda.admin.ch/countries/iran/en/home/representations/embassy-of-switzerland-foreign-interests-section.html |date=October 22, 2018}}, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (page visited on April 4, 2015).</ref> In August 2018, the former Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei banned direct talks with the United States.<ref name="Staff">{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-usa/irans-khamenei-bans-holding-direct-talks-with-united-states-tv-idUSKBN1KY14A |title=Iran's Khamenei bans holding direct talks with United States: TV |publisher=Reuters |archive-date=January 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200104071503/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-usa/irans-khamenei-bans-holding-direct-talks-with-united-states-tv-idUSKBN1KY14A |url-status=live |access-date=August 14, 2018}}</ref> According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Iran has since attempted to assassinate U.S. officials and dissidents, including U.S. president Donald Trump.<ref name="JD">{{Cite web |date=November 8, 2024 |title=Justice Department brings criminal charges in Iranian murder-for-hire plan targeting Donald Trump |url=https://apnews.com/article/iran-fbi-justice-department-iran-83cff84a7d65901a058ad6f41a564bdb |access-date=January 5, 2025 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref><ref name="KD">{{Cite web |last=Rabinowitz |first=Hannah |date=November 8, 2024 |title=DOJ announces charges in Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/08/politics/doj-charges-three-iranian-plot-to-kill-donald-trump/index.html |access-date=January 5, 2025 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>
Iranian explanations for the animosity with the United States include "the natural and unavoidable conflict between the Islamic system" and "such an oppressive power as the United States, which is trying to establish a global dictatorship and further its own interests by dominating other nations and trampling on their rights", as well as the United States' support for Israel ("the Zionist entity").<ref>[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123861706862379499 Q&A With the Head of Iran's New America's Desk ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200104071506/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123861706862379499 |date=January 4, 2020 }} online.wsj.com April 1, 2009</ref><ref>[http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/sadjadpour_iran_final2.pdf Reading Khamenei: The World View of Iran's Most Powerful Leader, by Karim Sadjadpour March 2008] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027090356/https://carnegieendowment.org/files/sadjadpour_iran_final2.pdf |date=October 27, 2019}} p. 20 <blockquote>It is natural that our Islamic system should be viewed as an enemy and an intolerable rival by such an oppressive power as the United States, which is trying to establish a global dictatorship and further its own interests by dominating other nations and trampling on their rights. It is also clear that the conflict and confrontation between the two is something natural and unavoidable. [Address by Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, to students at Shahid Beheshti University, May 12, 2003]</blockquote></ref> In the West, however, various explanations have been considered,<ref name="Ansari 2006"/> including the Iranian government's need for an external bogeyman to furnish a pretext for domestic repression against pro-democratic forces and to bind the government to its loyal constituency.<ref>''The New Republic'', Charm Offensive, by Laura Secor, April 1, 2009 <blockquote>To give up this trump card—the non-relationship with the United States, the easy evocation of an external bogeyman—would be costly for the Iranian leadership. It would be a Gorbachevian signal that the revolution is entering a dramatically new phase—one Iran's leaders cannot be certain of surviving in power.</blockquote> </ref> The United States attributes the worsening of relations to the 1979–81 Iran hostage crisis,<ref name="Ansari 2006"/> Iran's repeated human rights abuses since the Islamic Revolution, different restrictions on using spy methods on democratic revolutions by the U.S., its anti-Western ideology, its nuclear program, and political, financial, and military support to armed groups committed primarily to countering the influence of U.S. and Israel in the West Asia.<ref name="Hubbard-2024">{{Cite news |last1=Hubbard |first1=Ben |last2=Rubin |first2=Alissa J. |date=September 30, 2024 |title=Facing a Big Test, Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' Flails |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/world/middleeast/iran-axis-of-resistance.html |work=The New York Times|author-link2=Alissa J. Rubin|name-list-style=and}}</ref><ref name="AlKassab-2023">{{Cite news |last=Al-Kassab |first=Fatima |date=October 26, 2023 |title=What is the 'axis of resistance' of Iran-backed groups in the Middle East? |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/10/26/1208456496/iran-hamas-axis-of-resistance-hezbollah-israel |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029183838/https://www.npr.org/2023/10/26/1208456496/iran-hamas-axis-of-resistance-hezbollah-israel |archive-date=October 29, 2023 |access-date=March 2, 2026 |work=NPR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50324912|title=Iran's network of influence in Mid-East 'growing'|last=Gardner|first=Frank|date=November 7, 2019|access-date=January 11, 2020|language=en-GB|archive-date=January 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112054211/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50324912|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/short-history/iraniancrises|title=The Iranian Hostage Crisis - Short History - Department History - Office of the Historian|website=history.state.gov|access-date=January 11, 2020|archive-date=April 9, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240409000000/https://web.archive.org/web/20240409005751/https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/short-history/iraniancrises|url-status=live}}</ref>
Since 1995, the United States has had an embargo on trade with Iran.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranchamber.com/history/islamic_revolution/islamic_revolution.php|title=History of Iran: Islamic Revolution of 1979|access-date=April 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629064154/http://www.iranchamber.com/history/islamic_revolution/islamic_revolution.php|archive-date=June 29, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Relations tend to improve when the two countries have overlapping goals, such as repelling Sunni militants during the Iraq War and the intervention against the Islamic State in the region.<ref>The Middle East and North Africa 2003, eur, 363, 2002</ref> In 2015, the United States led successful negotiations for a nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) intended to place substantial limits on Iran's nuclear program, including IAEA inspections and limitations on enrichment levels. In 2016, most sanctions against Iran were lifted.<ref>Akbar E. Torbat, Politics of Oil and Nuclear Technology in Iran, Palgrave MacMillan, 2020,</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/world/middleeast/iran-sanctions-lifted-nuclear-deal.html|title=Iran Complies With Nuclear Deal; Sanctions Are Lifted|date=January 17, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 2, 2016|archive-date=April 9, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409182355/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/world/middleeast/iran-sanctions-lifted-nuclear-deal.html|url-status=live|last=Sanger|first=David E.|author-link=David E. Sanger}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/world/middleeast/why-iran-sanctions-were-lifted-and-what-happens-next.html|title=With Iran Nuclear Deal Implemented, What Happens Next?|date=January 17, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 2, 2016|archive-date=April 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404234834/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/world/middleeast/why-iran-sanctions-were-lifted-and-what-happens-next.html|url-status=live|last=Gladstone|first=Rick}}</ref> The Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions in 2018, initiating what became known as the "maximum pressure campaign" against Iran.<ref>{{Cite web|date=March 8, 2021|title=The Failure of U.S. "Maximum Pressure" against Iran|url=https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/iran/failure-us-maximum-pressure-against-iran|access-date=May 6, 2021|website=Crisis Group|language=en|archive-date=November 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118221538/https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/iran/failure-us-maximum-pressure-against-iran|url-status=live}}</ref> In response, Iran gradually reduced its commitments under the nuclear deal and eventually exceeded pre-JCPOA enrichment levels.<ref>{{Cite web|date=April 17, 2021|title=IAEA confirms Iran has started enriching uranium to 60% purity|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iaea-confirms-iran-has-started-enriching-uranium-60-purity-2021-04-17/|access-date=May 6, 2021|website=Reuters}}</ref> The Biden administration did not relax the economic sanctions against Iran,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55972619|title=Iran nuclear deal: US sanctions will not be lifted for talks, says Biden|date=February 7, 2021|work=BBC News}}</ref> and instead implemented more measures.<ref name="Blinkdeal">{{cite news |title=Blinken: Nuclear deal the best way to cap Iran nuclear activity |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/27/blinken-says-nuclear-deal-best-way-to-cap-iran-nuclear-activity |access-date=March 3, 2026 |work=Al Jazeera English|date=March 27, 2022}}</ref><ref name="Moscsanct">{{cite news |title=U.S. says it imposes sanctions on Moscow-backed Iranian oil smuggling network |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-imposes-sanctions-money-laundering-network-aiding-irans-oil-revenue-2022-05-25/ |access-date=March 3, 2026 |work=Reuters}}</ref><ref name="IranChina">{{cite news |title=U.S. pressures Iran by targeting Chinese, UAE companies|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us-targets-chinese-emirati-firms-iran-petrochemical-sales-2022-06-16/ |access-date=March 3, 2026 |work=Reuters |date=June 16, 2022}}</ref> The second Trump administration reimposed the "maximum pressure" approach on Iran.<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 4, 2025 |title=Trump reimposes 'maximum pressure' on Iran, aims to drive oil exports to zero|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-set-reimpose-maximum-pressure-iran-official-says-2025-02-04/|access-date=March 3, 2026 |website=Reuters|language=en-US}}</ref> Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent labelled the collapse of the Iranian currency in December 2025 as the "grand culmination" of this strategy.<ref name="Sharma 2026">{{Cite news|last=Sharma |first=Yashraj |date=February 3, 2026 |title=US says it caused dollar shortage to trigger Iran protests: What that means |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/2/13/us-says-it-caused-dollar-shortage-to-trigger-iran-protests-what-that-means |access-date=March 3, 2026 |work=Al Jazeera English |language=en |quote=In a stunning admission, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington engineered a dollar shortage to send the Iranian rial into freefall that culminated with protesters taking to the streets.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Northam |first1=Jackie |title=Trump's sanctions on Iran have dramatically affected its economy and led to protests |url=https://www.npr.org/2026/02/23/nx-s1-5708935/trumps-sanctions-on-iran-have-dramatically-affected-its-economy-and-led-to-protests |work=NPR |access-date=March 14, 2026|date=February 23, 2026}}</ref>
On February 28, 2026, Israel and the United States launched a joint attack on various sites in Iran, beginning a war between the three countries. The operation, codenamed ''Roaring Lion'' by Israel<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shalev|date=February 28, 2026|title=Israel names operation against Iran "Roaring Lion"|url=https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-iran-attack-02-28-26-hnk-intl |access-date=February 28, 2026|website=CNN|language=en|first=Tal}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Israel names operation against Iran 'Lion's Roar'|url=https://www.iranintl.com/en/202602288170|website=Iran International|access-date=February 28, 2026|language=en|date=February 28, 2026}}</ref> and ''Operation Epic Fury'' by the United States Department of Defense,<ref>{{Cite tweet |number=2027662002219302929|user=DeptOfWar|title=Operation Epic Fury|date=February 28, 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Pentagon names Iran mission 'Operation Epic Fury'|url=https://www.iranintl.com/en/202602280838|website=Iran International|access-date=February 28, 2026}}</ref> targeted key officials, military commanders, facilities and was aimed at regime change.<ref name="Sanger-2026">{{Cite news |last=Sanger |first=David E. |author-link=David E. Sanger |date=February 28, 2026 |title=For Trump, the Iran Attack Is the Ultimate War of Choice |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/us/politics/trump-iran-attack.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=March 3, 2026|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/uHhch|url-status=live|archive-date=February 28, 2026}}</ref> The attack included the assassination of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Iranian state TV announces death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei|url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iranian-state-tv-announces-death-irans-supreme-leader-ali-khamenei|access-date=February 28, 2026|website=Middle East Eye|language=en}}</ref>
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== History ==
=== Early relations === American newspapers in the 1720s were uniformly pro-Iranian, especially during the revolt of Afghan emir Mahmud Hotak ({{Reign|1722|1725}}) against the Safavid dynasty.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ghazvinian |first1=John |title=America and Iran: A History, 1720 to the Present |date=2020 |publisher=Oneworld Publications |isbn=978-1-78607-947-3 |location=London |author-link1=John Ghazvinian}}</ref>
Political relations between Qajar Persia and the United States began when the Shah of Iran, Nassereddin Shah Qajar, officially dispatched Iran's first ambassador, Mirza Abolhasan, to Washington, D.C. in 1856.<ref name="PR">''The Middle East and the United States: A Historical and Political Reassessment'', David W. Lesch, 2003, {{ISBN|0-8133-3940-5}}, p. 52</ref> In 1883, Samuel G. W. Benjamin was appointed by the United States as the first official diplomatic envoy to Iran; however, ambassadorial relations were not established until 1944.<ref name="PR"/>
<gallery class="center"> File:Arg-Tabriz-USA.jpg|The U.S. Consulate at Arg e Tabriz sits in the line of fire during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. While the city was being attacked and bombed by 4,000 Russian troops in December 1911, Howard Baskerville took to arms, helping the people of Iran. File:Americans wearing Persian clothes.jpg|Americans wearing ''jobbeh va kolah'' (traditional Persian clothes) at the opening of the ''Majles'', January 29, 1924. Mr. McCaskey, Dr. Arthur Millspaugh, and Colonel MacCormack are seen in the photo. File:Shuster-team.jpg|Morgan Shuster and U.S. officials at Atabak Palace, Tehran, 1911. Their group was appointed by Iran's parliament to reform and modernize Iran's Department of Treasury and Finances. File:American College Tehran.JPG|McCormick Hall, American College of Tehran, circa 1930, chartered by the State University of New York in 1932. Americans also founded Iran's first modern College of Medicine in the 1870s. File:Joseph Plumb Cochran.jpeg|Joseph Plumb Cochran, American Presbyterian missionary. He is credited as the founder of Iran's first modern medical school. File:Tabriz memorial highschool 00.jpg|American Memorial School in Tabriz, established in 1881 </gallery>
The U.S. had little interest in Persian affairs, while the U.S. as a trustworthy outsider did not suffer. The Persians again sought the U.S. for help in straightening out its finances after World War I. This mission was opposed by powerful vested interests and eventually was withdrawn with its task incomplete.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Zx1AAAAMAAJ|title=The United States and Iran: a documented history|last=Alexander|first=Yonah|publisher=Aletheia Books|year=1980|isbn=978-0890933787}}</ref>
During the Persian Constitutional Revolution in 1909, American Howard Baskerville died in Tabriz while fighting with a militia in a battle against royalist forces.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/minister-howard-baskerville-iran-120250/|title=Iran's Favorite Midwesterner|work=Politico Magazine|access-date=June 15, 2018|language=en|archive-date=June 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615190604/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/minister-howard-baskerville-iran-120250|url-status=live}}</ref> After the Iranian parliament appointed United States financier Morgan Shuster as Treasurer General of Iran in 1911, an American was killed in Tehran by gunmen thought to be affiliated with Russian or British interests. Shuster became even more active in supporting the Constitutional Revolution of Iran financially.<ref>''Ibid.'' p. 83</ref>
Arthur Millspaugh, an American economic adviser, was sent to Persia in 1923 as a private citizen to help reform its inefficient administration. His presence was seen by Persians as a means to attract foreign investment and counterbalance European influence. The mission ended in 1928 after Millspaugh fell out of favor with the shah.<ref name="delv">{{cite web | last=Del Viscio | first=Jeffery | title=Timeline on the Relationship Between the United States and Iran | website=The New York Times | date=April 7, 2012 | url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/07/world/middleeast/iran-timeline.html | access-date=June 7, 2025}}</ref>
Until World War II, relations between Iran and the United States remained cordial. As a result, many Iranians sympathetic to the Persian Constitutional Revolution came to view the U.S. as a "third force" in their struggle to expel British and Russian dominance in Persian affairs. American industrial and business leaders were supportive of Iran's drive to modernize its economy and to expel British and Russian influence from the country.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1039111 | jstor=1039111 | title=United States' Support for Iran's Independence and Integrity, 1945-1959 | last1=Lenczowski | first1=George | journal=Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science| date=1972 | volume=401 | pages=45–55 | doi=10.1177/000271627240100106 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Reza Khan, a military officer in Persia's Cossack Brigade, came to power after leading a British-backed coup in 1921 that overthrew the Qajar dynasty.<ref>Zirinsky M.P. ''Imperial Power and dictatorship: Britain and the rise of Reza Shah 1921–1926''. International Journal of Middle East Studies. 24, 1992. p. 646</ref><ref>*Foreign Office 371 16077 E2844 dated June 8, 1932. *The Memoirs of Anthony Eden are also explicit about Britain's role in putting Reza Khan in power. *Ansari, Ali M. ''Modern Iran since 1921''. Longman. 2003 {{ISBN|0-582-35685-7}} pp. 26–31</ref> He later declared himself shah (king) and took the name Reza Pahlavi.<ref name=weisse/> He launched modernization efforts, building a national railway and introducing secular education, while also censoring the press, suppressing unions and parties, and later banning the hijab in favor of Western dress.<ref name=weisse/> In 1936, Iran withdrew its ambassador in Washington for nearly one year after the publication of an article criticizing Reza Shah in ''The New York Daily Herald''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=1946: The Making of the Modern World|last=Sebestyen|first=Victor|publisher=Pan Macmillan|year=2014|isbn=978-0230758001}}</ref>
[[File:Teheran conference-1943.jpg|thumb|right|The Allied "Big Three" at the 1943 Tehran Conference]] After a dispute over German influence during World War II, Reza Shah was forced to abdicate in 1941 and was succeeded by his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.<ref name=weisse/> During the rest of World War II, Iran became a major conduit for British and American aid to the Soviet Union and an avenue through which over 120,000 Polish refugees and Polish Armed Forces fled the Axis advance.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/persian/chapter01.htm#b1|title=United States Army in World War II the Middle East Theater the Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia|last=T.H. Vail Motter|last2=United States Army Center of Military History|publisher=CMH|year=1952|author2-link=United States Army Center of Military History|access-date=February 3, 2021|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304100430/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/persian/chapter01.htm#b1|url-status=dead}}</ref> At the 1943 Tehran Conference, the Allied "Big Three"—Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill—issued the Tehran Declaration to guarantee the post-war independence and boundaries of Iran. In 1949, the Constituent Assembly of Iran gave the shah the power to dissolve the parliament.<ref name=weisse/>
===1953 Iranian coup d'état=== ==== Before the coup ==== [[File:Shah & Harry Truman.jpg|thumb|200px|The Shah with Harry S. Truman in 1949]] Until the outbreak of World War II, the United States had no active policy toward Iran.<ref>Stephen Kinzer ''All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror'', John Wiley and Sons, 2003, p. 86</ref> When the Cold War began, the United States was alarmed by the attempt by the Soviet Union to set up separatist states in Iranian Azerbaijan and Kurdistan, as well as its demand for military rights to the Dardanelles in 1946. This fear was enhanced by the loss of China to communism, the uncovering of Soviet spy rings, and the start of the Korean War.<ref>Byrne writing in ''Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran'', Edited by Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne, Syracuse University Press, 2004, pp. 201, 204–06, 212, 219.</ref>
==== Prime minister Mossadeq ==== In 1951, Iran nationalised its oil industry,<ref>{{cite web | title=Iran Nationalizes Its Oil Industry | website=EBSCO Information Services, Inc. | date=March 7, 1951 | url=https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/iran-nationalizes-its-oil-industry | access-date=June 4, 2025}}</ref> effectively seizing the assets of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC).<ref>{{cite web | title=Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. (United Kingdom v. Iran) | website=Cour internationale de Justice - International Court of Justice | date=July 22, 1952 | url=https://www.icj-cij.org/case/16 | access-date=June 4, 2025}}</ref> On April 28, 1951, Mohammad Mosaddegh was elected as Prime Minister by the Parliament of Iran.
The British planned to retaliate by attacking Iran,<ref>{{cite web |last=Ebrahimi |first=Mansoureh |date=April 2019 |title=The British Role in Iranian Domestic Politics (1951-1953) |page = 23|url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332522921|publisher=Springer |access-date=June 6, 2025}}</ref> but U.S. President Harry S. Truman pressed Britain to moderate its position in the negotiations and to not invade Iran. American policies fostered a sense in Iran that the United States supported Mossadeq, along with optimism that the oil dispute would soon be resolved through "a series of innovative proposals" that would provide Iran with "significant amounts of economic aid." Mossadeq visited Washington, and the American government made "frequent statements expressing support for him."<ref>Gasiorowski writing in ''Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran'', Edited by Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne, Syracuse University Press, 2004, p. 273</ref>
At the same time, the United States honored the British embargo and, without Truman's knowledge, the Central Intelligence Agency station in Tehran had been "carrying out covert activities" against Mosaddeq and the National Front "at least since the summer of 1952".<ref>Gasiorowski writing in ''Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran'', Edited by Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne, Syracuse University Press, 2004, p. 243</ref>
==== The coup d'état ==== {{Main|1953 Iranian coup d'état}}
[[File:ShahEisenhower.jpg|thumb|150px|The Shah with Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1959]] In 1953, the U.S. and Britain orchestrated a coup to overthrow Iran's prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq,<ref name=briefhis>{{cite web | title=US-Iran relations: A brief history | website=BBC News | date=September 28, 2013 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24316661 | access-date=June 4, 2025}}</ref> fearing communist influence and economic instability after Iran nationalized its oil industry. The coup, led by the CIA and MI6,<ref name=briefhis/> initially failed but succeeded on a second attempt. It reinstalled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who then received substantial U.S. financial and military support. The U.S. helped establish SAVAK,<ref name="weisse">{{cite web | last1=Weissert | first1=Will | last2=Woodall | first2=Hunter | title=A timeline of U.S.-Iran relations | website=PBS News | date=January 13, 2020 | url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/a-timeline-of-u-s-iran-relations | access-date=June 6, 2025|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> the Shah's brutal secret police, to maintain his rule. Many liberal Iranians believe that the coup and the subsequent U.S. support for the shah enabled the Shah's arbitrary rule, contributing to the "deeply anti-American character" of the 1979 revolution later.<ref>Gasiorowski, ''Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran'', Edited by Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne, Syracuse University Press, 2004, p. 261</ref>
After the coup, the United States played a central role in reorganizing Iran's oil sector. Under U.S. pressure, BP joined a consortium of Western companies to resume Iranian oil exports.<ref name="Ref-B-Vassiliou2009">Marius Vassiliou, Historical Dictionary of the Petroleum Industry : Volume 3]]. p. 269.</ref><ref name="Ref-B-Lauterpacht1973">Lauterpacht, E. International Law Reports. p. 375.</ref> The consortium operated on behalf of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), which retained formal ownership of Iran's oil and infrastructure.<ref name="Ref-B-Vassiliou2009"/><ref name="Ref-B-Lauterpacht1973"/> While Iran received 50% of the profits, U.S. companies collectively secured 40% of the remaining share.<ref name="Ref-B-Christine2008">Strategies, Markets and Governance: Exploring Commercial and Regulatory Agendas. p. 235.</ref> However, the consortium maintained operational control, barred Iranian oversight of its financial records, and excluded Iranians from its board.<ref name="Stephen2003">Kinzer, ''All the Shah's Men'', (2003), pp. 195–6.</ref> The agreement was part of a wider transition from British to American dominance in the region and worldwide.<ref name="Pluto Press">{{cite book |last1=Chomsky |first1=Noam|last2=Vltchek |first2=Andre|title=On Western Terrorism: From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare |date=2013 |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=978-1849649377|pages=123–124}}</ref>
While initially seen as a Cold War success, the coup later became a source of deep resentment, with critics calling it a blow to democracy and a lasting stain on U.S.-Iran relations.
=== U.S.–Shah alliance === {{Infobox bilateral relations|Pahlavi Iran–United States|Imperial State of Iran|United States|map=Iran United States Locator 2.svg |mission1 = Embassy of Iran, Washington, D.C. |mission2 = Embassy of the United States, Tehran}} [[File:Kennedy with Shah of Iran, 1961.jpg|thumb|200px|The Shah with John F. Kennedy and Robert McNamara in 1961]]
====Nuclear cooperation==== In 1953, U.S. President Eisenhower launched Iran's nuclear program as part of Atoms for Peace program.<ref name="MA"/><ref>{{cite journal | last=Drogan | first=Mara | title=The Atoms for Peace program and the Third World | journal=Cahiers du monde russe | publisher=OpenEdition | volume=60 | issue=2–3 | date=April 1, 2019 | issn=1252-6576 | doi=10.4000/monderusse.11249 | pages=441–460}}</ref> In 1967, the U.S. helped Iran create its nuclear program by providing the Tehran Research Reactor, the nation's first nuclear reactor, as well as 5.58 kg of enriched uranium.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) |url=https://www.nti.org/education-center/facilities/tehran-research-reactor-trr/ |website=Nuclear Threat Initiative |access-date=February 24, 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Born In The USA: How America Created Iran's Nuclear Program |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/09/18/440567960/born-in-the-u-s-a-how-america-created-irans-nuclear-program |access-date=May 17, 2025 |work=NPR |language=en}}</ref><ref name="MA">{{Cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-061209atoms-day1-story,0,2034260.htmlstory|title=An atomic threat made in America|last=Roe|first=Sam|date=January 28, 2007|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=July 1, 2009|archive-date=March 27, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327031257/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-061209atoms-day1-story,0,2034260.htmlstory|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Mustafa Kibaroglu, "Good for the shah, banned for the mullahs: The west and Iran's quest for nuclear power." ''Middle East Journal'' 60.2 (2006): 207-232 [http://repository.bilkent.edu.tr/bitstream/handle/11693/23843/bilkent-research-paper.pdf?sequence=1 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911060829/http://repository.bilkent.edu.tr/bitstream/handle/11693/23843/bilkent-research-paper.pdf?sequence=1 |date=September 11, 2021}}.</ref> Iran is one of the 51 original signatories of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) on July 1, 1968, and its Parliament ratified the treaty in February 1970.<ref name=delv/> The participation of the U.S. and Western European governments continued until the 1979 Iranian Revolution.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranaffairs.com/iran_affairs/2006/05/blasts_from_the.html|title=Iran Affairs: Blasts from the Past: Western Support for Iran's Nuclear program|year=2008|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121206034719/http://www.iranaffairs.com/iran_affairs/2006/05/blasts_from_the.html|archive-date=December 6, 2012 |access-date=February 24, 2008}}</ref>
====Strategic alliance and geopolitical importance==== thumb|President Lyndon Johnson welcoming the Shah at the White House while Iranians protest, 1967 Iran's border with the Soviet Union, and its position as the largest, most powerful country in the oil-rich Persian Gulf, made Iran a "pillar" of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.<ref>''Twin Pillars to Desert Storm : America's Flawed Vision in the Middle East from Nixon to Bush'' by Howard Teicher; Gayle Radley Radley, Harpercollins, 1993</ref> In 1960, Iran joined Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela to form the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), aiming to challenge the dominance of Western oil companies and reclaim control over national oil resources.<ref name="Kalir">{{cite web | last=Robinson | first=Kali | title=U.S. Relations With Iran, 1953–2025 | website=Council on Foreign Relations | date=October 13, 2023 | url=https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-relations-iran-1953-2025 | access-date=June 7, 2025|last2=Ferragamo|first2=Mariel}}</ref> In the 1960s and 1970s, Iran's oil revenues grew considerably. Beginning in the mid-1960s, this development "weakened U.S. influence in Iranian politics" while strengthening the Iranian state's power over its own population.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}} By the 1970s, surging OPEC profits gave the group substantial leverage over Western economies and elevated Iran's strategic value as a U.S. ally.<ref name=Kalir/> According to scholar Homa Katouzian, this put the United States "in the contradictory position of being regarded" by the Iranian public "as the chief architect and instructor of the regime," while "its real influence" in domestic Iranian politics and policies "declined considerably".<ref>Katouzian writing in ''Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran'', Edited by Mark J. Gasiorowski and Malcolm Byrne, Syracuse University Press, 2004 p. 23</ref>
====Military cooperation and arms sales==== Lee Driscoll and other historians have said that between 1969 and 1974 U.S. President Richard Nixon actively recruited the Shah as an American puppet and proxy.<ref>James A. Bill, ''The eagle and the lion: The tragedy of American-Iranian relations'' (1989).</ref> However, Richard Alvandi argues that it worked the other way around, with the Shah taking the initiative. President Nixon, who had first met the Shah in 1953, regarded him as a westernizing anticommunist statesman who deserved American support now that the British were withdrawing from the region. They met again in 1972 and the Shah agreed to buy large quantities of American military hardware, and took responsibility for ensuring political stability and fighting off Soviet subversion throughout the region.<ref>Roham Alvandi, ''Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War'' (2014)</ref> Permitting Iran to purchase U.S. arms served Cold War objectives by securing the Shah's alignment with Washington after Iran had briefly explored Soviet alternatives in the 1960s, while also benefiting the American economy.<ref name=blankch>{{cite web | title= Beyond the Blank Cheque: Arming Iran during the Ford Administration| url=https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/OutputFile/921520 | access-date=June 6, 2025}}</ref> However, because of the 1973 Arab–Israeli War and the subsequent Arab oil embargo against the United States, oil prices became very high. This enabled the shah to buy more advanced weaponry than U.S. officials had expected, which caused concern in Washington.<ref name=Kalir/>
In the 1970s, approximately 25,000 American technicians were deployed to Iran to maintain military equipment (such as F-14s) that had been sold to the Shah's government.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Fifty-Year Wound|last=Leebaert|first=Derek|publisher=Little, Brown and Company|year=2003|location=New York, United States of America|pages=382}}</ref>
==== Cultural and academic relations ==== [[File:The Shah of Iran and President Nixon - NARA - 194301.jpg|thumb|150px|The Shah with Richard Nixon in 1969]] Cultural relations between the two countries remained cordial until 1979. Pahlavi University, Sharif University of Technology, and Isfahan University of Technology, three of Iran's top academic universities, were directly modeled on private American institutions such as the University of Chicago, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania.<ref name="GE">{{cite web|url=http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/intrntnl/country/mideast.html|title=Trends by Region: Middle East and Penn's Global Engagement, University of Pennsylvania University Archives|access-date=April 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519015838/http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/intrntnl/country/mideast.html|archive-date=May 19, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>''Exporting MIT''. Stuart W. Leslie and Robert Kargon. ''Osiris'', vol. 21 (2006), pp. 110–30 {{doi|10.1086/507138}}</ref> The Shah was generous in awarding American universities with financial gifts. For example, the University of Southern California received an endowed chair of petroleum engineering, and a million-dollar donation was given to the George Washington University to create an Iranian Studies program.<ref name="GE"/>
Prior to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, many Iranian citizens, especially students, resided in the United States and had a positive and welcoming attitude toward America and Americans.<ref name="ABC-CLIO"/> From 1950 to 1979, an estimated 800,000 to 850,000 Americans had visited or lived in Iran, and had often expressed their admiration for the Iranian people.<ref name="ABC-CLIO"/>
===Ford administration 1974–1977=== Under president Gerald Ford, U.S.–Iran relations began to cool. Unlike Richard Nixon, Ford lacked a close personal relationship with the Shah, and his administration took a more cautious stance on nuclear cooperation.<ref name=bic>{{cite web | title=Chapter 3: US – Iranian Relations from 1974 to 1977, Ford Administration | website=BIC-RHR | date=December 7, 2021 | url=https://www.bic-rhr.com/research/chapter-3-us-iranian-relations-1974-1977-ford-administration | access-date=June 6, 2025}}</ref> Negotiations over American nuclear exports to Iran faltered as Ford insisted on additional safeguards beyond those required by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which the Shah rejected as an infringement on Iran's sovereignty.<ref name=oraox>{{cite web | title=Nixon, Kissinger and the Shah: US-Iran Relations and the Cold War, 1969-1976 | url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:52d2d8e8-f8d1-4632-aee9-9734585ce9e9/files/md1723512759e5fc9311ecb9bc475b182 | access-date=June 6, 2025}}</ref>
In 1975, President Ford approved a plan allowing Iran to process U.S. nuclear materials and purchase a plutonium reprocessing facility. Henry Kissinger later described it as a commercial deal with an ally, with no discussion of weapons concerns.<ref name=delv/>
Despite continuing Nixon's arms sales policy, granting Iran wide access to U.S. weapons, Ford faced internal opposition and growing concerns in Congress.<ref name=blankch/> Meanwhile, U.S. officials—particularly Treasury Secretary William Simon grew increasingly critical of the Shah's role in maintaining high oil prices, during a time when surging inflation was driving the U.S. economy toward a recession. To America, the Shah's strategy of pumping oil profits into domestic investments, such as its military, indicated Iran's desire for superpower status.<ref>{{cite news |last= <!-- not stated --> |first= <!-- not stated --> |date= July 16, 1974 |title= Simon Quoted as Calling The Shah of Iran 'a Nut' |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1974/07/16/91443220.html?pageNumber=4 |publisher= The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=H-Diplo Roundtable XIX, 25 on The Carter Administration and the Fall of Iran's Pahlavi Dynasty: US-Iran Relations on the Brink of the 1979 Revolution | website=H-Net | date=March 12, 2018 | url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/28443/discussions/1514260/h-diplo-roundtable-xix-25-carter-administration-and-fall-iran%E2%80%99s | access-date=June 6, 2025}}</ref> In 1976, the U.S. covertly supported Saudi Arabia's move to drive down oil prices, undercutting Iran's revenues.<ref name=bic/>
The resulting oil price collapse in early 1977 triggered a severe financial crisis in Iran, forcing austerity measures that led to rising unemployment and social unrest. These developments significantly weakened the Shah's regime and contributed to the conditions that precipitated the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Later declassified documents suggest that key U.S. policymakers underestimated the risks of destabilizing their long-time ally.<ref name=bic/>
=== Carter administration 1977–1981=== {{see also|Jimmy Carter's engagement with Ruhollah Khomeini}} [[File:The Shah with Atherton, Sullivan, Vance, Carter and Brzezinski, 1977.jpg|thumb|The Iranian Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi meeting with Alfred Atherton, William H. Sullivan, Cyrus Vance, President Jimmy Carter, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, 1977]] [[File:DF-SC-86-12761.jpg|thumb|Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, shakes hands with a U.S. Air Force general officer prior to his departure from the United States]] In the late 1970s, American President Jimmy Carter emphasized human rights in his foreign policy, but went easy in private with the Shah.<ref>Ghazninian, 2021, p. 280.</ref> By 1977, Iran had garnered unfavorable publicity in the international community for its bad human rights record.<ref>Abrahamian, ''Iran'' (1982), pp. 498–99.</ref> That year, the Shah responded to Carter's "polite reminder" by granting amnesty to some prisoners and allowing the Red Cross to visit prisons. Through 1977, liberal opposition formed organizations and issued open letters denouncing the Shah's regime.<ref>Abrahamian, ''Iran'' (1982), pp. 501–03.</ref><ref name="JC">{{cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/archives_roll/2003_01-03/dauherty_shah/dauherty_shah.html|title=Daugherty – Jimmy Carter and the 1979 Decision to Admit the Shah into the United States|access-date=April 2, 2016|archive-date=October 4, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004121457/http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/archives_roll/2003_01-03/dauherty_shah/dauherty_shah.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Carter angered anti-Shah Iranians with a New Year's Eve 1978 toast to the Shah in which he said: <blockquote>Under the Shah's brilliant leadership Iran is an island of stability in one of the most troublesome regions of the world. There is no other state figure whom I could appreciate and like more.<ref>[http://www.ca-c.org/journal/eng01_2000/15.papuashvili.shtml Geopolitical Aspects of Islamization hosted by ca-c.org ] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030419221739/http://www.ca-c.org/journal/eng01_2000/15.papuashvili.shtml |date=2003-04-19}}</ref></blockquote>
Observers disagree over the nature of United States policy toward Iran under Carter as the Shah's regime crumbled. According to historian Nikki Keddie, the Carter administration followed "no clear policy" on Iran.<ref>Keddie, ''Modern Iran'' (2003), p. 235.</ref> The U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski "repeatedly assured Pahlavi that the U.S. backed him fully". At the same time, officials in the State Department believed the revolution was unstoppable.<ref>Keddie, ''Modern Iran'' (2003), pp. 235–36.</ref> After visiting the Shah in 1978, Secretary of the Treasury W. Michael Blumenthal complained of the Shah's emotional collapse.<ref>Shawcross, ''The Shah's Last Ride'' (1988), p. 21.</ref> Brzezinski and Energy Secretary James Schlesinger were adamant in assurances that the Shah would receive military support.
Sociologist Charles Kurzman argues that the Carter administration was consistently supportive of the Shah and urged the Iranian military to stage a "last-resort coup d'état".<ref>Kurzman, Charles, ''The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran'', Harvard University Press, 2004, p. 157</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Sheikhneshin|first=Arsalan Ghorbani|title=Iran and the US: Current Situation and Future Prospects|journal=Journal of International and Area Studies|year=2009|volume=16|issue=1|pages=93–113}}</ref>
==== Iranian Revolution ==== {{Further|Iranian Revolution}} The Iranian/Islamic Revolution (1978–1979) ousted the Shah and replaced him with the anti-American Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.<ref>[https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/shah-flees-iran. This Day In History Shah flees Iran] Retrieved September 4, 2023</ref> The United States government State Department and intelligence services "consistently underestimated the magnitude and long-term implications of this unrest".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index.isc?Article=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/unicode/v5f3/v5f3a002.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090622031811/http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index.isc?Article=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iranica.com%2Fnewsite%2Farticles%2Funicode%2Fv5f3%2Fv5f3a002.html |title=Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Persia|url-status=usurped|archive-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref> Six months before the revolution culminated, the CIA had produced a report stating that "Iran is not in a revolutionary or even a 'prerevolutionary' situation."<ref>US House of Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Iran. Evaluation of U.S. Intelligence Performance Prior to November 1978. Staff Report, Washington, DC, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_Y986sgliWYC&q=%22Iran+is+not+in+a+revolutionary%22 p. 7] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240904222221/https://books.google.com/books?id=_Y986sgliWYC&q=%22Iran+is+not+in+a+revolutionary%22#v=snippet&q=%22Iran%20is%20not%20in%20a%20revolutionary%22&f=false |date=September 4, 2024 }}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/iran/2019-12-19/documenting-iran-us-relations-1978-2015|title=Documenting Iran-U.S. Relations|last=Byrne|first=Malcolm|date=December 19, 2019|website=National Security Archive|access-date=December 20, 2019|archive-date=September 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240904222144/https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/iran/2019-12-19/documenting-iran-us-relations-1978-2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
Revolutionary students feared the power of the United States, particularly the CIA, to overthrow a new Iranian government. One source of this concern was a book by CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt Jr. titled ''Countercoup: The Struggle for Control of Iran''. Many students had read excerpts from the book and thought that the CIA would attempt to implement this countercoup strategy.<ref>Heikal, ''Iran: The Untold Story'' (1982), p. 23. "It was abundantly clear to me that the students were obsessed with the idea that the Americans might be preparing to mount another counter-coup. Memories of 1953 were uppermost in their minds. They all knew about Kermit Roosevelt's book ''Countercoup'', and most of them had read extracts from it. Although, largely owing to intervention by the British, who were anxious that the part they and the oil company had played in organizing the coup should not become known, this book had been withdrawn before publication, a few copies of it had got out and been duplicated."</ref>
Khomeini referred to America as the "Great Satan"<ref>{{cite book |title=The Iran Primer: Power, Politics, and U.S. Policy | publisher=United States Institute of Peace | editor=Wright, Robin B. |page=186 |chapter=Iran and Russia |last=Katz, Mark N. |year=2010 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MDgwl59s_hUC&pg=PA186 |isbn=978-1-60127-084-9 |access-date=October 19, 2020 |archive-date=September 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240904222222/https://books.google.com/books?id=MDgwl59s_hUC&pg=PA186#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> and instantly got rid of the Shah's prime minister, replacing him with politician Mehdi Bazargan. Until this point, the Carter administration was still hoping for normal relationships with Iran, sending its National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.
The Islamic revolutionaries wished to extradite and execute the ousted Shah, and Carter refused to give him any further support or help return him to power. The Shah, suffering from terminal cancer, requested entry into the United States for treatment. The American embassy in Tehran opposed the request, as they were intent on stabilizing relations between the new interim revolutionary government of Iran and the United States.<ref name="JC"/> However, President Carter agreed to let the Shah in, after pressure from Henry Kissinger, Nelson Rockefeller and other pro-Shah political figures. Iranians' suspicion that the Shah was actually trying to conspire against the Iranian Revolution grew; thus, this incident was often used by the Iranian revolutionaries to justify their claims that the former monarch was an American puppet, and this led to the storming of the American embassy by radical students allied with Khomeini.<ref name="JC"/>
==== The hostage crisis and its consequences ==== {{Main|Iran hostage crisis}}
[[File:DF-SC-82-06566 Bush hostages Iran.JPEG|thumb|Vice President George H. W. Bush and other VIPs wait to welcome the former hostages to Iran home]] On November 4, 1979, Iranian student revolutionaries, with Ayatollah Khomeini's approval, seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, holding 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days in response to the U.S. granting asylum to the deposed Shah. The crisis, seen in Iran as a stand against American influence and in the U.S. as a violation of diplomatic law, led to failed rescue attempts and lasting damage to Iran–U.S. relations. Six Americans escaped via the CIA–Canadian "Canadian Caper" operation, later dramatized in the film ''Argo''. <br/> As a response to the seizure of the embassy, Carter banned Iranian oil imports,<ref name=iranpri>{{cite web | title=U.S. Sanctions | website=The Iran Primer | date=October 11, 2010 | url=https://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/us-sanctions | access-date=June 6, 2025 | archive-date=November 11, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241111221245/http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/us-sanctions | url-status=dead }}</ref> followed by his Executive Order 12170 froze about $12 billion in Iranian assets,<ref>{{cite web | title=How the Iran hostage crisis shaped the US approach to sanctions | website=Brookings | date=March 9, 2022 | url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-the-iran-hostage-crisis-shaped-the-us-approach-to-sanctions/ | access-date=April 30, 2025}}</ref> including bank deposits, gold and other properties. They were the first of a number of international sanctions against Iran.<ref name="scholar.harvard.edu">Haidar, J.I., 2017."[https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/haidar/files/haidar-sanctionsandexportdeflection-finaldraft.pdf Sanctions and Exports Deflection: Evidence from Iran] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210528142059/https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/haidar/files/haidar-sanctionsandexportdeflection-finaldraft.pdf |date=28 May 2021 }}," Economic Policy (Oxford University Press), April 2017, Vol. 32(90), pp. 319-355.</ref>
thumb|right|Families wait for the former hostages to disembark the plane
The crisis ended with the Algiers Accords in January 1981. Under the terms of the agreement and Iran's compliance, the hostaged diplomats were allowed to leave Iran. One of the chief provisions of the Accords was that the United States would lift the freeze on Iranian assets and remove trade sanctions.<ref>{{cite web | title=ALGIERS ACCORDS | url=https://www.parstimes.com/history/algiers_accords.pdf | access-date=April 30, 2025}}</ref> The agreement also established the Iran–U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague to handle claims brought by Americans against Iran, as well as claims by Iran against Americans and the former shah.<ref name=iranpri/> The diplomatic ties remain severed, with Switzerland and Pakistan handling each country's interests.
=== Reagan administration 1981–1989===
==== Iran–Iraq War ==== {{See also|United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War}} American intelligence and logistical support played a crucial role in arming Iraq in the Iran–Iraq War. However, Bob Woodward states that the United States gave information to both sides, hoping "to engineer a stalemate".<ref>{{cite book|last=Woodward|first=Bob|title=Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981–1987|year=2005|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York City|pages=507}}</ref> In search for a new set or order in this region, Washington adopted a policy designed to contain both sides economically and militarily.<ref name="Simbar 2006 73–87">{{cite journal|last=Simbar|first=Reza|title=Iran and the US: Engagement or Confrontation|journal=Journal of International and Area Studies|year=2006|volume=13|issue=1|pages=73–87}}</ref> During the second half of the Iran–Iraq War, the Reagan administration pursued several sanction bills against Iran; on the other hand, it established full diplomatic relations with Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist government in Iraq by removing it from the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism in 1984.<ref name="Simbar 2006 73–87"/> According to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, the administrations of Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous dual-use items, including chemicals and biological agents, such as anthrax and bubonic plague.<ref>{{cite news|first=Tim|last=Reid|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article807098.ece|archive-url=https://archive.today/20110810062511/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article807098.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 10, 2011|title=How US helped Iraq build deadly arsenal|date=December 31, 2002|access-date=July 10, 2010|work=The Sunday Times |location=London}}</ref><!-- back-up: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1230-04.htm --> The Iran–Iraq War ended with both agreeing to a ceasefire in 1988.
==== 1983: Hezbollah bombings ==== {{Main|Hezbollah military activities|1983 US embassy bombing in Beirut|1983 Beirut barracks bombings}}
Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shi'ite Islamist group, has carried out multiple anti-American attacks, including the 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut (killing 63, including 17 Americans), the Beirut barracks bombing (killing 241 U.S. Marines), and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing. U.S. courts have ruled Iran responsible for these attacks, with evidence showing Hezbollah operated under Iran's direction and that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei authorized the Khobar Towers bombing.
==== 1983: Anti-communist purge ==== According to the Tower Commission report: <blockquote>In 1983, the U.S. helped bring to the attention of Tehran the threat inherent in the extensive infiltration of the government by the communist Tudeh Party and Soviet or pro-Soviet cadres in the country. Using this information, the Khomeini government took measures, including mass executions, that virtually eliminated the pro-Soviet infrastructure in Iran.<ref>{{cite book|author-link1=John Tower|last1=Tower|first1=John|author-link2=Edmund Muskie|last2=Muskie|first2=Edmund|author-link3=Brent Scowcroft|last3=Scowcroft|first3=Brent|title=Report of the President's Special Review Board|publisher=Bantam Books|year=1987|page=[https://archive.org/details/towercommission00unit/page/104 104]|isbn=978-0553269680|title-link=Tower Commission}} Available online [https://archive.org/stream/TowerCommission/President%27s%20Special%20Review%20Board%20%28%22Tower%20Commission%22%29#page/n67/mode/2up here.]</ref></blockquote>
==== Iran–Contra Affair ==== {{Further|Iran–Contra affair}} To evade congressional rules regarding an arms embargo, officials in President Ronald Reagan's administration arranged in the mid-1980s to sell arms to Iran in an attempt to improve relations and obtain their influence in the release of hostages held in Lebanon. Oliver North of the National Security Council diverted proceeds from the arms sale to fund anti-Marxist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/reagan-iran/ |title=The Iran-Contra Affair |department=American Experience |website=pbs.org |series=The Presidents |publisher=WGBH Educational Foundation |access-date=August 31, 2017 |archive-date=September 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901021833/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/reagan-iran/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="reaganspeech">{{cite web|url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/111386c.htm|title=Address to the Nation on the Iran Arms and Contra Aid Controversy|last=Reagan|publisher=Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, National Archives and Records Administration|date=November 13, 1986|access-date=September 3, 2006|archive-date=March 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306030425/https://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/111386c.htm|url-status=dead|first=Ronald|author-link=Ronald Reagan}}</ref> In November 1986, Reagan issued a statement denying the arms sales.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wolf |first=Julie |title=The Iran-Contra affair |work=The American Experience: Reagan |publisher=PBS / WGBH |year=2000 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/peopleevents/pande08.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119224021/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/peopleevents/pande08.html |archive-date=January 19, 2011 }} </ref> One week later, he confirmed that weapons had been transferred to Iran, but denied that they were part of an exchange for hostages.<ref name="reaganspeech"/> Later investigations by Congress and an independent counsel disclosed details of both operations and noted that documents relating to the affair were destroyed or withheld from investigators by Reagan administration officials on national security grounds.<ref name="Excerpts from Iran-Contra Report">{{cite news |title=Excerpts From the Iran-Contra Report: A Secret Foreign Policy |work=The New York Times |year=1994 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/29/reviews/iran-transcript.html |access-date=May 5, 2010 |archive-date=April 10, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410071727/http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/29/reviews/iran-transcript.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Iran-Contra: Reagan's Scandal and the Unchecked Abuse of Presidential Power|last=Byrne|first=Malcolm|publisher=University Press of Kansas|year=2017|isbn=978-0-7006-2590-1|location=Lawrence, Kansas}}</ref> The revelation that profits from the arms sales had been illegally funneled to the Contras created a major political scandal for Reagan.<ref name=briefhis/>
==== United States attack of 1988 ==== {{Main|Iran–Iraq War#Attacks on shipping}}
In 1988, the U.S. launched Operation Praying Mantis in retaliation for Iran mining the Persian Gulf during the Iran–Iraq War, following Operation Nimble Archer. It was the largest American naval operation since World War II, with strikes that destroyed two Iranian oil platforms and sank a major warship. Iran sought reparations at the International Court of Justice, but the court dismissed the claim. The attack helped pressure Iran into agreeing to a ceasefire with Iraq later that year.
==== 1988: Iran Air Flight 655 ==== {{Main|Iran Air Flight 655}}
On July 3, 1988, during the Iran–Iraq War, the U.S. Navy's USS ''Vincennes'' mistakenly shot down Iran Air Flight 655, a civilian Airbus A300B2, killing 290 people.<ref name=briefhis/> The U.S. initially claimed the aircraft was a warplane and outside the civilian air corridor, but later acknowledged the downing was an accident in a combat zone. Iran, however, argued it was gross negligence and sued the U.S. in the International Court of Justice, resulting in compensation for the victims' families. The U.S. expressed regret, calling it a tragic accident, while the ''Vincennes'' crew received military honors.
=== George H. W. Bush administration 1989–1993 === Newly elected U.S. president George H. W. Bush announced a "goodwill begets goodwill" gesture in his inaugural speech on January 20, 1989. The Bush administration urged President of Iran Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to use Iran's influence in Lebanon to obtain the release of the remaining U.S. hostages held by Hezbollah. Bush indicated there would be a reciprocal gesture toward Iran by the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres63|title=George Bush: Inaugural Address. U.S. Inaugural Addresses. 1989|website=bartleby.com|access-date=June 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615190609/http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres63|archive-date=June 15, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Relevant background events during the first year of Bush's administration include the ending of the Iran–Iraq War and the death of Ayatollah Khomeini.<ref name="delv"/> Khomeini believed he had a sacred duty to purge Iran of what he saw as Western corruption and moral decay, aiming to restore the country to religious purity under Islamic theocratic rule.<ref name="delv"/> Khomeini was succeeded by Ali Khamenei.
=== Clinton administration 1993–2001 === {{See also|Dual containment}} In April 1995, a total oil and trade embargo on dealings with Iran by American companies was imposed by Bill Clinton.<ref name=weisse/> This ended trade, which had been growing following the end of the Iran–Iraq War.<ref>Keddie, ''Modern Iran'' (2003), p. 265</ref> The next year, the American Congress passed the Iran-Libya Sanctions act, designed to prevent other countries from making large investments in Iranian energy. The act was denounced by the European CC as invalid.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.stetson.edu/law/lawreview/media/u-s-secondary-sanctions-the-u-k-and-e-u-response.pdf|title=U.S. SECONDARY SANCTIONS: THE U.K. AND EU RESPONSE|work=Stetson Law Review Vol. XXVII|date=1998}}</ref>
==== Khatami and Iranian reformers ==== In January 1998, newly elected Iranian President Mohammad Khatami called for a "dialogue of civilizations" with the United States. In the interview, Khatami invoked Alexis de Tocqueville's ''Democracy in America'' to explain similarities between American and Iranian quests for freedom.<ref>{{cite web | title= CNN: Transcript of interview with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami [Excerpt]| url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/racgd9-cjd83/06-19980107-CNN-transcript-of-Khatami-interview.pdf | access-date=May 4, 2025}}</ref> American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright responded positively. This brought free travel between the countries as well as an end to the American embargo of Persian carpets and pistachios. Relations then stalled due to opposition from Iranian conservatives and American preconditions for discussions, including changes in Iranian policy on Israel, nuclear energy, and support for terrorism.<ref>Keddie, ''Modern Iran'', (2003) p. 272</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Shenon | first=Philip | title=U.S. to Ease Sanctions on Countries | website=Archive | date=April 29, 1999 | url=https://archive.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/sanct1.htm | access-date=May 4, 2025}}</ref>
Four members of the United States Congress: Senator Arlen Specter, Representative Bob Ney, Representative Gary Ackerman, and Representative Eliot L. Engel held informal talks in New York City with several Iranian leaders in August 2000. The Iranians included Mehdi Karroubi, speaker of the Majlis of Iran (Iranian Parliament); Maurice Motamed, a Jewish member of the Majlis; and three other Iranian parliamentarians.<ref>{{cite news |first=Barbara |last=Crossette |title=For Iran's Visiting Legislators, A Useful, Low-Key Exchange |date=September 1, 2000 |work=The New York Times |url=http://www.american-iranian.org/aicinthenews/For%20Iran's%20Visiting.pdf |access-date=June 16, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509230730/http://www.american-iranian.org/aicinthenews/For%20Iran%27s%20Visiting.pdf |archive-date=May 9, 2006|author-link=Barbara Crossette}}</ref>
=== George W. Bush administration 2001–2009=== {{Main|Iran–United States relations during the George W. Bush administration}}
Iran–United States relations during the George W. Bush administration (2001–2009) were marked by heightened tensions, mutual distrust, and periodic attempts at limited engagement. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Iran initially was sympathetic with the United States.<ref name="president">{{Cite web |date=September 25, 2001 |title=Khatami-Straw-Terrorism |url=http://www.president.ir/cronicnews/1380/8007/800703/800703.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020503200608/http://www.president.ir/cronicnews/1380/8007/800703/800703.htm |archive-date=May 3, 2002 |access-date=February 17, 2026}}</ref>
Relations deteriorated sharply after President George W. Bush labeled Iran part of the "Axis of Evil" in 2002, accusing the country of pursuing weapons of mass destruction that posed a threat to the U.S.<ref name=suterror>{{cite web|url=http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/4540 |title=State of the Union Address (January 29, 2002) |publisher=Miller Center |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011053416/http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/4540 |archive-date=October 11, 2011}}</ref><ref name="fax">{{cite web | title=2003 US Iran Roadmap Proposal | website=The Washington Post | date=May 2, 2025 | url=https://www.scribd.com/document/170613340/2003-US-Iran-Roadmap-proposal | access-date=May 2, 2025|via=Scribd}}</ref> In 2003, Swiss Ambassador Tim Guldimann relayed an unofficial proposal to the U.S. outlining a possible "grand bargain" with Iran. He claimed it was developed in cooperation with Iran, but it lacked formal Iranian endorsement, and the Bush administration did not pursue the offer.<ref name=Guldi>{{cite web | title=Official Proposals on the Iranian Nuclear Issue, 2003-2013 | website=Arms Control Association | date=April 28, 2007 | url=https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/official-proposals-iranian-nuclear-issue-2003-2013 | access-date=May 2, 2025}}</ref><ref name="Kessler">{{cite news|last=Kessler|first=Glenn|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2013/12/09/kerrys-claim-that-iran-offered-bush-a-nuclear-deal-in-2003/|title=Fact Checker: Kerry's claim that Iran offered Bush a nuclear deal in 2003|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=December 9, 2013|access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Rubin">{{cite web|last=Rubin|first=Michael|url=http://www.meforum.org/1764/the-guldimann-memorandum|title=The Guldimann Memorandum: The Iranian "roadmap" wasn't a roadmap and wasn't Iranian|work=Middle East Forum|date=October 22, 2007|access-date=April 1, 2016|archive-date=September 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240904223239/https://www.meforum.org/the-guldimann-memorandum|url-status=live}}</ref>
Between 2003 and 2008, Iran accused the United States of repeatedly violating its territorial sovereignty through drone incursions,<ref name="washdrones">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19820-2005Feb12.html U.S. Uses Drones to Probe Iran For Arms] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626232946/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19820-2005Feb12.html |date=June 26, 2010}}, February 13, 2005, ''The Washington Post''</ref><ref name="nytdronesresponse">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/07/AR2005110701450.html Iran Protests U.S. Aerial Drones] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131163111/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/07/AR2005110701450.html |date=January 31, 2011}}, November 8, 2005, ''The Washington Post''</ref> covert operations, and support for opposition groups.<ref name="seymourhershone">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/reporting|title=Reporting|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=June 22, 2019|archive-date=September 6, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060906211450/http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?060227fa_fact|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="kucinich">[http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=42505 Kucinich Questions The President On US Trained Insurgents In Iran: Sends Letter To President Bush] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060525160327/http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=42505 |date=May 25, 2006}}, Dennis Kucinich, April 18, 2006</ref> In August 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became Iran's president. During his presidency, attempts at dialogue, including a personal letter to President Bush,<ref name=Ahmaletter>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3362443.stm "Timeline: US-Iran ties."] BBC News. Retrieved October 29, 2006.</ref> were dismissed by U.S. officials,<ref name="WPLetter">Vick, Karl. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/08/AR2006050800141.html "No Proposals in Iranian's Letter to Bush, U.S. Says."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110235609/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/08/AR2006050800141.html |date=November 10, 2016 }} ''The Washington Post''. Retrieved October 29, 2006.</ref> while public tensions grew over Iran's nuclear program, U.S. foreign policy, and Ahmadinejad's controversial remarks at international forums. The United States intensified covert operations against Iran, including alleged support for militant groups such as PEJAK and Jundullah, cross-border activities, and expanded CIA and Special Forces missions. Iran was repeatedly accused by the U.S. of arming and training Iraqi insurgents, including Shiite militias and groups linked to Hezbollah, with American officials citing captured weapons, satellite images, and detainee testimonies. During this period, additional flashpoints included the U.S. raid on Iran's consulate in Erbil, sanctions targeting Iranian financial institutions, a naval dispute in the Strait of Hormuz, and the public disclosure of covert action plans against Iran.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Iran says it temporarily closed the Strait of Hormuz as it held more indirect talks with the US |url=https://outrider.org/nuclear-weapons/articles/iran-says-it-temporarily-closed-strait-hormuz-it-held-more-indirect-talks |access-date=February 25, 2026 |website=Outrider}}</ref>
=== Obama administration 2009–2017=== {{main|Iran–United States relations during the Obama administration}}
[[File:Secretary Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif Pose for a Photo at the United Nations in New York City (21543582838).jpg|thumb|U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Lausanne, Switzerland to discuss the Iranian nuclear program, March 16, 2015]] thumb|Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif at the UN Headquarters in New York on April 19, 2016
Iran–United States relations during the Obama administration (2009–2017) were defined by a shift from confrontation to cautious engagement, culminating in the landmark nuclear agreement of 2015.
At the start of Obama's presidency, both sides exchanged public messages signaling a possible thaw, with Iran voicing long-standing grievances<ref name="npr_halfway">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99995428|title=Iran Not Likely To Meet Obama Halfway|date=January 29, 2009|work=NPR|access-date=April 2, 2016|archive-date=September 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240904223246/https://www.npr.org/2009/01/29/99995428/iran-not-likely-to-meet-obama-halfway|url-status=live}}</ref> and the United States calling for mutual respect and responsibility.<ref name=newbegin>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7954211.stm |work=BBC News |date=March 20, 2009 |access-date=January 5, 2010 |title=Obama offers Iran 'new beginning' |archive-date=March 28, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328032937/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7954211.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> However, after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009, which sparked mass protests and allegations of fraud, the United States responded with skepticism and concern.<ref name=skep>{{Cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/13/official-obama-administration-skeptical-irans-election-results/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616120332/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/13/official-obama-administration-skeptical-irans-election-results/ |archive-date=June 16, 2009 |title=Official: Obama Administration Skeptical of Iran's Election Results |publisher=Fox News |date=June 13, 2009 |access-date=June 13, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In late 2011 and early 2012, Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz<ref name=Hormuz11>{{cite news|title=Iran threatens to block Strait of Hormuz oil route|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16344102|work=BBC News|date=December 28, 2011|access-date=January 25, 2012}}</ref> and warned a U.S. aircraft carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf. The U.S. rejected the warning and maintained its naval presence, while experts doubted Iran's ability to sustain a blockade.<ref name=Cordesman>{{citation |first=Anthony H. |last=Cordesman |title=Iran, Oil, and Strait of Hormuz |publisher=The Center for Strategic and International Studies |date=March 2007}}</ref><ref name=Talmadge>{{cite journal |first=Caitlin |last=Talmadge |title=Closing Time: Assessing the Iranian Threat to the Strait of Hormuz |journal=International Security |volume=33 |issue=Summer 2008 |pages=82–117|doi=10.1162/isec.2008.33.1.82 |year=2008|s2cid=57559337 }}</ref>
The 2013 election of President Hassan Rouhani, seen as a moderate,<ref name="moderate">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/world/middleeast/irans-new-president-in-first-un-appearance-preaches-tolerance-says-his-country-is-no-threat.html|title=Iran's New President Preaches Tolerance in First U.N. Appearance|date=September 24, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=July 30, 2018|archive-date=July 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731000540/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/world/middleeast/irans-new-president-in-first-un-appearance-preaches-tolerance-says-his-country-is-no-threat.html|url-status=live|last=Gladstone|first=Rick}}</ref> marked a shift in tone, with his outreach at the UN and a historic phone call with Obama signaling renewed diplomatic engagement.<ref name=call>[http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/27/20722870-obama-speaks-with-iranian-president-rouhani?lite Obama speaks with Iranian President Rouhani] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927201011/http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/27/20722870-obama-speaks-with-iranian-president-rouhani?lite |date=September 27, 2013 }} ''NBC News'' September 27, 2013</ref><ref>[https://nationalpost.com/news/obama-talks-to-rowhani-first-direct-conversation-between-american-and-iranian-presidents-in-30-years Obama talks to Rouhani: First direct conversation between American and Iranian presidents in 30 years] ''National Post'' September 27, 2013</ref> While high-level contact resumed and symbolic gestures were exchanged, conservative backlash in Iran highlighted internal divisions over rapprochement.<ref name=protests>{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/11/iranians-gather-anti-us-demonstrations-201311411503434943.html|title=Iranians cry 'death to America' in huge rally|publisher=Al Jazeera|access-date=April 2, 2016|archive-date=April 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418045557/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/11/iranians-gather-anti-us-demonstrations-201311411503434943.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2015, the United States and other world powers reached the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, under which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.<ref name=deal>{{cite web |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/foreign-policy/iran-deal |title=The Historic Deal that Will Prevent Iran from Acquiring a Nuclear Weapon |last= |via=National Archives |work=whitehouse.gov <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |access-date=July 16, 2015 |archive-date=September 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240904223832/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/foreign-policy/iran-deal |url-status=live }}</ref> The agreement marked a major diplomatic achievement for the Obama administration, though it faced skepticism in Congress<ref name="LoBianco Tatum 2015">{{cite web | last1=LoBianco | first1=Tom | last2=Tatum | first2=Sophie | title=GOP 2016 hopefuls slam Iran nuclear deal | publisher=CNN | date=July 14, 2015 | url=https://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/14/politics/2016-candidates-iran-deal/index.html | access-date=May 28, 2026}}</ref> and mixed public support in the U.S.
Despite the JCPOA, tensions between the United States and Iran persisted over ballistic missile tests, continued U.S. sanctions, and European business hesitancy due to fear of U.S. penalties.<ref name=nucdeal>{{cite web | last=Robinson | first=Kali | title=What Is the Iran Nuclear Deal? | website=Council on Foreign Relations | date=October 27, 2023 | url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-iran-nuclear-deal | access-date=May 6, 2025}}</ref><ref name=summana>{{cite web | title=Iran nuclear agreement – summary and analysis | url=https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/files/12_HFAC%20-%20IRAN%20-%20Agreement%20Section%20by%20Section.pdf | access-date=May 6, 2025}}</ref><ref name=EUblock>{{cite web | last=Jones | first=Huw | title=EU says block on U.S. sanctions on Iran of limited use for EU banks | website=Reuters | date=May 17, 2018 | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-eu-banks/eu-says-block-on-us-sanctions-on-iran-of-limited-use-for-eu-banks-idUSKCN1II17K/ | access-date=May 6, 2025}}</ref><ref name=DispRes>{{cite journal | last=Dolzikova | first=Darya | title=How U.S. Sanctions Affect Europe's Leverage in the Iran Deal Dispute Resolution Mechanism | journal=Lawfare | date=February 13, 2020 | url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/how-us-sanctions-affect-europes-leverage-iran-deal-dispute-resolution-mechanism | access-date=May 6, 2025 }}</ref> The administration also faced criticism for its handling of these issues, both from Iran<ref name=IranImp>{{cite web | title=Iran and the Imperative of Sustained Engagement | website=War on the Rocks | date=August 17, 2016 | url=https://warontherocks.com/2016/08/iran-and-the-imperative-of-sustained-engagement/ | access-date=May 6, 2025}}</ref> and from political opponents.
=== First Trump administration 2017–2021 === {{Main|Iran–United States relations during the first Trump administration}}
Iran–United States relations during the first Trump administration (2017–2021) were marked by a sharp policy shift from Obama's engagement-oriented approach. Trump began with a travel ban affecting Iranian citizens,<ref name="travelban">{{Cite news|last1=Dennis|first1=Brady|last2=Markon|first2=Jerry|date=January 29, 2017|title=Amid protests and confusion, Trump defends executive order: 'This is not a Muslim ban'|language=en-US|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-gives-no-sign-of-backing-down-from-travel-ban/2017/01/29/4ffe900a-e620-11e6-b82f-687d6e6a3e7c_story.html|access-date=November 15, 2021|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=March 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310012650/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-gives-no-sign-of-backing-down-from-travel-ban/2017/01/29/4ffe900a-e620-11e6-b82f-687d6e6a3e7c_story.html|url-status=live|name-list-style=and}}</ref> and withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). A broader maximum pressure campaign followed, with over 1,500 sanctions targeting Iran's financial, oil, and shipping sectors, as well as foreign firms doing business with Iran, severely damaging its economy.<ref>{{cite magazine | last=Hennigan | first=W.J. | title=U.S. General: Iran Is Nearly Able to Build a Nuclear Weapon | magazine=TIME | date=November 24, 2021 | url=https://time.com/6123380/iran-near-nuclear-weapon-capability/ | access-date=June 9, 2025 | archive-date=December 1, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201041247/https://time.com/6123380/iran-near-nuclear-weapon-capability/ | url-status=live }}</ref> The effort aimed to isolate Iran but met with strong resistance—even from U.S. allies—and often left Washington diplomatically isolated.<ref name="Laraj">{{#invoke:Cite|news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/us/politics/trump-iran-nuclear-deal.html |access-date=November 11, 2021 |title=Instead of Isolating Iran, U.S. Finds Itself on the Outside Over Nuclear Deal |first1=Lara |last1=Jakes |name-list-style=and |first2=David E. |last2=Sanger |author-link2=David E. Sanger |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 20, 2020}}</ref>
Iran responded by threatening to resume unrestricted uranium enrichment;<ref name=limit>{{Cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/05/09/trump-iran-nuclear-deal-withdrawal-fallout/593490002/|title=Iran lawmakers shout 'death to America,' burn U.S. flag after Trump nixes nuclear deal|work=USA Today|access-date=June 20, 2018|language=en|archive-date=November 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122233035/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/05/09/trump-iran-nuclear-deal-withdrawal-fallout/593490002/|url-status=live}}</ref> rejecting negotiations with the Trump administration,<ref name=nowar>{{cite news |title=Iran's Khamenei: No war, no negotiations with Trump |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/iran-khamenei-war-negotiations-trump-180813135405516.html |access-date=August 16, 2018 |work=Al Jazeera |archive-date=August 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815221525/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/iran-khamenei-war-negotiations-trump-180813135405516.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and intensified rhetoric. Tensions escalated in 2019 with U.S. intelligence reports of Iranian threats,<ref name="explained">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/16/world/middleeast/iran-tensions-explainer.html|title=The Tension Between America and Iran, Explained|date=May 16, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 25, 2019|archive-date=May 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525195300/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/16/world/middleeast/iran-tensions-explainer.html|url-status=live|last=Gladstone|first=Rick|first2=Megan|last2=Specia|name-list-style=and}}</ref><ref name=strike>{{cite news|url=https://www.axios.com/us-navy-deploys-strike-group-to-iran-bolton-1e5b9298-f807-4db2-a4e7-ddd9f308db36.html|title=Bolton: U.S. sending Navy strike group to Iran to send "clear message"|date=May 6, 2019|work=Axios|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-date=May 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514181248/https://www.axios.com/us-navy-deploys-strike-group-to-iran-bolton-1e5b9298-f807-4db2-a4e7-ddd9f308db36.html|url-status=live}}</ref> attacks on oil tankers, the downing of a U.S. drone by Iran,<ref name=shotdrone>{{cite news |last1=Bellon |first1=Tina |last2=Stone |first2=Mike |date=June 20, 2019 |title=Factbox: The Global Hawk drone shot down by Iran |work=Reuters |editor-last=Oatis |editor-first=Jonathan |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-iran-usa-factbox/factbox-the-global-hawk-drone-shot-down-by-iran-idUSKCN1TL29K |access-date=June 24, 2019 |archive-date=June 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620182452/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-iran-usa-factbox/factbox-the-global-hawk-drone-shot-down-by-iran-idUSKCN1TL29K |url-status=live }}</ref> and suspected Iranian strikes on Saudi oil facilities.<ref name=oilwar>{{cite web|url=https://themedialine.org/headlines/iran-ready-for-full-fledged-war-against-us/|title=Iran Ready for 'Full-fledged' War against US|date=September 15, 2019|website=The Media Line|language=en-US|access-date=September 15, 2019|archive-date=September 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190918001202/https://themedialine.org/headlines/iran-ready-for-full-fledged-war-against-us/|url-status=live}}</ref> President Trump called off retaliatory strikes,<ref name="NYTCocked">{{cite web |last1=Shear |first1=Michael D. |last2=Cooper |first2=Helene |last3=Schmitt |first3=Eric |date=June 21, 2019 |title=Trump Says He Was 'Cocked and Loaded' to Strike Iran, but Pulled Back |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/us/politics/trump-iran-attack.html |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812232045/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/us/politics/trump-iran-attack.html?module=inline |archive-date=August 12, 2019 |access-date=June 22, 2019 |website=The New York Times|author-link2=Helene Cooper|author-link3=Eric P. Schmitt|name-list-style=and|author-link=Michael D. Shear}}</ref> opting for cyberattacks and additional sanctions instead.<ref name=cyber>{{cite web | last1=Pomerleau | first1=Mark | last2=Eversden | first2=Andrew | title=What to make of US cyber activities in Iran | website=C4ISRNet | date=June 25, 2019 | url=https://www.c4isrnet.com/dod/2019/06/25/why-trump-may-have-opted-for-a-cyberattack-in-iran/ | access-date=May 1, 2025 | archive-date=April 28, 2025 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250428191300/https://www.c4isrnet.com/dod/2019/06/25/why-trump-may-have-opted-for-a-cyberattack-in-iran/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Demonstrations and protests against United States recognition of Jerusalem in Tehran 036.jpg|thumb|Iranians protest Donald Trump's Jerusalem declaration in Tehran, December 11, 2017]] A major escalation followed a December 2019 rocket attack on the K-1 Air Base in Iraq,<ref name="killedcont">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/27/us/politics/american-rocket-attack-iraq.html|title=American Contractor Killed in Rocket Attack in Iraq|last=Barnes|first=Julian E.|date=December 27, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=January 12, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112191832/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/27/us/politics/american-rocket-attack-iraq.html|archive-date=January 12, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> which led to American airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias<ref name="BRubin">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/world/middleeast/iraq-airstrikes-us-iran-militias.html|title=American Airstrikes Rally Iraqis Against U.S.|first1=Alissa J.|last1=Rubin|first2=Ben|last2=Hubbard|date=December 30, 2019|access-date=January 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101214538/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/world/middleeast/iraq-airstrikes-us-iran-militias.html|archive-date=January 1, 2020|url-status=live|newspaper=The New York Times|author-link=Alissa J. Rubin|name-list-style=and}}</ref> and a retaliatory attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.<ref name=BEmbassy>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/01/02/us-embassy-baghdad-attack-damage-fort-bragg-deployment/2793781001/|title=Photos reveal extensive damage to US Embassy in Baghdad as American soldiers rush to region|date=January 2, 2020|access-date=January 4, 2019|work=USA Today|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102144713/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/01/02/us-embassy-baghdad-attack-damage-fort-bragg-deployment/2793781001/|archive-date=January 2, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> On January 3, 2020, the U.S. assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike,<ref name=slain>{{cite web|last1=Salem|last2=Al Lawati|last3=Picheta|last4=John|last5=Atay Alam|first1=Mostafa|first2=Abbas|first3=Rob|first4=Tara|first5=Hande|url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/03/middleeast/iran-explosions-soleimani-ceremony-intl/index.html|title=Twin blasts kill dozens near slain Iran commander's grave|website=CNN World|date=January 4, 2024|access-date=May 2, 2025|archive-date=January 3, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103175332/https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/03/middleeast/iran-explosions-soleimani-ceremony-intl/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> prompting Iranian missile attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and heightened fears of war. The crisis deepened with the accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane by Iranian forces and continued through early 2020 with retaliatory strikes and threats.<ref name="RFE">{{cite web | title=Trump Mocks Iran's Khamenei After His Uncompromising Speech | website=Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty | date=January 17, 2020 | url=https://en.radiofarda.com/a/trump-mocks-iran-s-khamenei-after-his-uncompromising-speech-/30384128.html | access-date=May 3, 2025}}</ref>
Later in 2020, Iran blamed U.S. sanctions for limiting its COVID-19 response.<ref name=irancovid>{{cite news |title=U.S. sanctions 'severely hamper' Iran coronavirus fight, Rouhani says |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-iran/us-sanctions-severely-hamper-iran-coronavirus-fight-rouhani-idUSKBN2110HL |work=Reuters |date=March 14, 2020 |archive-date=April 22, 2020 |access-date=May 2, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200422131751/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-iran/us-sanctions-severely-hamper-iran-coronavirus-fight-rouhani-idUSKBN2110HL |url-status=live }}</ref> They launched a military satellite,<ref name="rocket">{{Cite web|last=Clark|first=Stephen|title=Iran places military satellite in orbit|url=https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/04/22/iran-places-military-satellite-in-orbit/|access-date=June 29, 2020|language=en-US|archive-date=February 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223081635/https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/04/22/iran-places-military-satellite-in-orbit/|url-status=live|date=April 22, 2020|website=Spaceflight Now}}</ref> and were later accused of interfering in the U.S. presidential election<ref name=election>{{cite news |last1=Epherum |first1=Kossaify |title=US presidential debate: Biden warns Iran will 'pay price' for election interference |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1752936/world |agency=Arab News |date=October 23, 2020}}</ref> and proxy attacks.<ref name="cnn-taliban">{{cite news |title=US intelligence indicates Iran paid bounties to Taliban for targeting American troops in Afghanistan |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/17/politics/iran-taliban-bounties-us-intelligence/index.html |publisher=CNN |date=August 17, 2020 |archive-date=February 15, 2021 |access-date=May 2, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215040830/https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/17/politics/iran-taliban-bounties-us-intelligence/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Relations ended under Trump with continued hostility and unresolved disputes.
===Biden administration 2021–2025=== {{Main|Iran–United States relations during the Biden administration}}
Iran–United States relations during the Biden administration (2021–2025) were shaped by efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement alongside ongoing regional tensions, sanctions, cyberattacks, and proxy conflicts. Early in Joe Biden's presidency, U.S. officials expressed interest in returning to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),<ref name=blunder>{{cite news |title=Biden's First Foreign Policy Blunder Could Be on Iran |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-21/biden-s-first-foreign-policy-blunder-could-be-on-iran |work=Bloomberg |date=January 22, 2021}}</ref> but negotiations in Vienna eventually stalled.<ref name="1953-2023 timeline">{{Cite web |url=https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-relations-iran-1953-2023 |title=1953 – 2023 U.S. Relations With Iran |website=Council on Foreign Relations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241230003605/https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-relations-iran-1953-2023 |archive-date=December 30, 2024}}</ref><ref name="stalling">{{cite web | title=The stalling of Vienna talks on Iran nuclear deal | url=https://finabel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/IF-24.06-3.pdf | access-date=April 23, 2025|website=finabel.org}}</ref> Iran increased uranium enrichment and imposed retaliatory sanctions,<ref name="1953-2023 timeline"/><ref name="15sanct">{{cite news |title=Iran imposes sanctions on 15 U.S. officials as nuclear talks stall |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-imposes-sanctions-15-us-officials-nuclear-talks-stall-2022-04-09/ |access-date=April 9, 2022 |work=Reuters|date=April 9, 2022}}</ref> while the U.S. imposed new sanctions over missile programs, oil exports, and human rights abuses.<ref name=Blinkdeal/><ref name=Moscsanct/><ref name=IranChina/>
Tensions persisted throughout this era, marked by recurring proxy attacks on U.S. bases,<ref name=Kataib>{{cite news |title=U.S. airstrikes target Iran-backed militias in Syria in Biden's 1st military action |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/syria-us-airstrikes-iranian-militia-target/ |publisher=CBS News |date=January 26, 2021}}</ref> which intensified following the outbreak of the Gaza war in late 2023,<ref name="proiran">{{Cite news |date=January 29, 2024 |title=Why pro-Iran militias are attacking U.S. troops in Iraq, Jordan, Syria |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/29/us-troops-jordan-iraq-militias/ |access-date=April 6, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en|last=Sands|first=Leo}}</ref> and by subsequent American retaliatory strikes.<ref name=65milit>{{cite web | last=Mehvar | first=Ameneh | title=US strikes and counter-strikes in the Middle East (Updated 2/9/23) | website=ACLED | date=February 3, 2024 | url=https://acleddata.com/2024/02/03/acled-factsheet-us-strikes-and-counter-strikes-in-the-middle-east/ | access-date=April 30, 2025}}</ref> The period also saw disputes over the assassination of Qasem Soleimani,<ref name="Motamedi">{{Cite web|last=Motamedi|first=Maziar|title=Iran sanctions more US officials over Soleimani assassination|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/8/iran-sanctions-more-us-officials-over-soleimani-assassination|access-date=2022-01-21|website=aljazeera.com|language=en|date=2022-01-08}}</ref><ref name=avengeUS>{{cite news |title=Iran Guards commander says death of all US leaders would not avenge Soleimani killing |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iranian-commander-says-death-all-american-leaders-would-not-avenge-soleimani-2022-04-13/ |access-date=April 17, 2022 |work=Reuters|agency=Reuters |publisher=Reuters |date=April 13, 2022}}</ref><ref name=offercon>{{cite news |title=Iran refuses to abandon avenging Soleimani despite U.S. offers |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-has-rejected-us-offers-lift-sanctions-exchange-tehran-abandoning-soleimani-2022-04-21/ |access-date=April 24, 2022 |work=Reuters}}</ref> and military escalations across the Gulf region.<ref name="ErbilUS">{{cite news |title=Iran attacks Iraq's Erbil with missiles in warning to U.S., allies |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/multiple-rockets-fall-erbil-northern-iraq-state-media-2022-03-12/ |access-date=March 13, 2022 |work=Reuters|date=March 13, 2022}}</ref><ref name=Iranseizes>{{cite news |title=Iran Seizes Commercial Tanker in Persian Gulf|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/iran-seizes-commercial-tanker-in-persian-gulf-/7170938.html |publisher=Voa News}}</ref><ref name="1000US">{{cite web |title=Thousands of US troops arrive in Red Sea amid ratcheting Iran tensions |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/7/thousands-of-us-troops-arrive-in-red-sea-amid-ratcheting-iran-tensions |website=aljazeera.com}}</ref> In 2023, a breakthrough occurred with a U.S.–Iran prisoner swap and the release of frozen Iranian funds,<ref name=6Bdeal>{{cite news |url=https://thehill.com/policy/international/4150808-mccaul-pans-6b-deal-to-free-us-citizens-in-iran/ |title=McCaul pans $6B deal to free US citizens in Iran |last=Nazzaro |first=Miranda |website=The Hill |location=Washington, D.C. |date=August 13, 2023 |access-date=September 19, 2023}}</ref><ref name=humani>[https://apnews.com/article/us-iran-prisoners-blinken-3e834df0a845ef2cc5c52af14598c66f# „The US moves to advance a prisoner swap deal with Iran and release $6 billion in frozen funds"] AP News (September 12, 2023) accessed September 13, 2023.</ref><ref name=breakth>{{cite news | last=Hudson | first=John | title=U.S. and Iran trade prisoners, signaling partial thaw in relations | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=September 18, 2023 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/09/18/us-iran-prisoner-exchange/ | access-date=April 24, 2025}}</ref> though indirect diplomacy remained fragile.<ref name=EUhoped>{{cite news |title=U.S., Iran indirect nuclear talks in Doha end without progress |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/indirect-talks-between-iran-us-ended-without-result-tasnim-news-agency-2022-06-29/ |access-date=July 3, 2022 |work=Reuters|agency=Reuters |publisher=Reuters |date=June 29, 2022}}</ref> Iran was later accused of interfering in the 2024 U.S. presidential election through cyber operations and AI disinformation.<ref name="Iranhack">{{cite web |title=Trump election campaign accuses Iran of hacking attack |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/11/donald-trumps-campaign-accuses-iran-of-cyberattacks-amid-election-race |website=aljazeera.com|date=2024-08-11|access-date=2026-05-28}}</ref><ref name=Iranmail>{{cite news|title=US says Iran emailed stolen Trump campaign material to Biden camp|date=September 19, 2024 |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-alleges-iran-tried-influence-election-with-messages-biden-camp-2024-09-18/|newspaper=Reuters|access-date=September 19, 2024}}</ref><ref name="AI3lines">{{cite news|title=Iran rejects allegation of interference in US election through AI3 lines|date=October 4, 2024|url=https://ifpnews.com/iran-interference-us-election-ai/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007074311/https://ifpnews.com/iran-interference-us-election-ai/|archive-date=October 7, 2024|access-date=October 7, 2024|url-status=live|work=ifpnews.com}}</ref> Alleged assassination plots targeting Donald Trump and dissidents on U.S. soil further strained relations.<ref name="KD"/> By late 2024, relations remained adversarial, marked by unresolved security disputes and growing mistrust.
===Second Trump administration 2025–2026 === {{Main|Iran–United States relations during the second Trump administration}}
In February 2025, three weeks after his second inauguration, Trump said he had given the U.S. military and his advisors instructions to obliterate Iran if he were to be assassinated.<ref>{{Cite news |last= |first= |title=Trump says he's given advisers instructions for Iran to be 'obliterated' if it assassinates him |url= https://abcnews.com/video/118457451/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250218163804/https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/trump-advisers-instructions-iran-obliterated-assassinates-118452965 |archive-date=February 18, 2025 |access-date=May 18, 2025 |work=ABC News |language=en-US |url-status=live }}</ref> He signed the return of the Maximum pressure campaign against the Iranian government.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/us/politics/trump-iran-executive-order.html |title=Trump Says He Left Instructions to 'Obliterate' Iran if It Assassinates Him |work=The New York Times |date=February 4, 2025 |last=Sanger |first=David E.|author-link=David E. Sanger}}</ref> Trump called for talks for a nuclear peace agreement.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/denying-us-and-israel-are-planning-a-strike-trump-says-he-wants-a-deal-with-iran/amp/ |title=Denying US and Israel are planning a strike, Trump says he wants a deal with Iran |website=The Times of Israel}}</ref>
In the Friday prayer of February 7, Khamenei dismissed negotiations and stated that the Iranian government should not make a deal with the U.S.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-gaza-ceasefire-news-02-07-2025-019bca120e264b93d137778fc0e6dfd1 | title=Middle East latest: Hamas names next 3 Israeli hostages to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners | website=Associated Press News | date=February 7, 2025 }}</ref> February 9, Trump said that he would rather make a deal with Iranians than let them be bombed by Israel.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-says-he-prefers-nuclear-deal-with-iran-than-bombing-the-hell-out-of-it/ |title=Trump says he prefers nuclear deal with Iran than 'bombing the hell out of it' | the Times of Israel |website=The Times of Israel |date=February 9, 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-841255 |title=Trump: 'I would like a deal done with Iran' rather than 'bombing the hell out of it' |date=February 9, 2025|website=jpost.com}}</ref>
In March 2025, Khamenei stated that he did not intend to negotiate with Trump.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.isna.ir/news/1403122215975/ویدیو-رهبر-انقلاب-مذاکره-با-این-دولت-آمریکا-فشار-را-افزایش/ |title=ویدیو/ رهبر انقلاب: مذاکره با این دولت آمریکا، فشار را افزایش خواهد داد |date=March 12, 2025|website=isna.ir|language=fa}}</ref> IRGC General Salami threatened United States military with devastation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/iranian-general-raises-prospect-response-amid-us-strikes/story?id=119847045 |title=Iranian general raises prospect of response amid US strikes on Houthis |website=ABC News}}</ref> Trump threatened he would hold Iranian regime to blame for any shots fired by Houthis.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5198724-trump-iran-houthi-attacks/ | title=Trump: Iran will be held responsible for 'every shot fired' by Houthis | work=The Hill | date=March 17, 2025 | last1=Gangitano | first1=Alex }}</ref>
Putin and Trump reached an agreement that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/trump-and-putin-agree-iran-must-not-be-able-1742324583.html | title=Trump and Putin agree Iran must not be able to destroy Israel – White House }}</ref>
In April, Ali Larijani, advisor to Khamenei, threatened Trump that Iran would make nuclear weapons.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://apnews.com/video/advisor-to-irans-leader-threatens-to-build-nuclear-weapon-if-us-makes-a-mistake-095b504af0464510af2597a0823621d9 | title=Advisor to Iran's leader threatens to build nuclear weapon if US makes a 'mistake' | website=Associated Press News }}</ref> Islamic Republic military allegedly had recommended a preemptively strike on U.S. military bases.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/03/31/iran-urged-to-strike-diego-garcia-base-immediately/ | title=Iran urged to strike Diego Garcia base 'immediately' | work=The Daily Telegraph | date=March 31, 2025 | last1=Makoii | first1=Akhtar }}</ref>
In April, Trump stated that Iranians want direct negotiations.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Hordern |first1=Annmarie |last2=Shahla |first2=Arsalan |date=April 3, 2025 |title=Trump Says He Thinks Iran Will Accept Direct Nuclear Talks |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-03/trump-says-he-thinks-iran-is-game-for-direct-nuclear-talks |access-date=May 17, 2025 |work=Bloomberg News}}</ref> Iran–United States negotiations began on April 12, 2025.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/us/politics/trump-iran-nuclear-deal.html | title=Trump Wants an Iran Nuclear Deal, but It Must be Better Than Obama's | work=The New York Times | last1=Broadwater | first1=Luke | last2=Sanger | first2=David E. | date=April 9, 2025 |author-link2=David E. Sanger|author-link1=Luke Broadwater|name-list-style=and}}</ref>
In April 2025, U.S. congressmen Joe Wilson and Jimmy Panetta introduced a 'Free Iraq from Iran' bill. The legislation mandates the development of a comprehensive U.S. strategy to irreversibly dismantle Iran-backed militias, including the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and calls for the suspension of U.S. assistance to Iraq until these militias are fully removed. The bill also imposes sanctions on Iraqi political and military figures aligned with Iran, and provides support for Iraqi citizens and independent media to expose abuses committed by these militias. Its primary objective is to restore Iraq's sovereignty and reduce Iranian dominance without resorting to direct military intervention.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Two US Congressmen Introduce Bill to Free Iraq from Iran |url=https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5129049-two-us-congressmen-introduce-bill-free-iraq-iran |access-date=April 22, 2025 |website=english.aawsat.com |language=en}}</ref>
In his speech during his May 2025 trip to Middle East, Trump called out the Iranians as the most destructive force and denounced the Iran leaders for having managed to be turning green fertile farmland and rolling blackouts calling on it to make a choice between war and violence and making a deal.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.iranintl.com/en/202505130020 | title=Trump castigates Iran in lengthy speech before Saudi leadership | date=May 13, 2025 |website=iranintl.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://editorials.voa.gov/a/the-iranian-regime-has-a-choice-to-make/8029457.html | title=The Iranian Regime Has a Choice to Make | date=May 14, 2025 |website=editorials.voa.gov}}</ref> On June 7, 2025, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 10 individuals and 27 entities, including Iranian nationals and firms based in the UAE and Hong Kong. These targets include the Zarringhalam brothers, accused of laundering billions via shell companies tied to the IRGC and the Central Bank of Iran. The funds reportedly supported Iran's nuclear and missile programs, oil sales, and militant proxies.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 8, 2025 |title=Treasury Sanctions Iranian Network Laundering Billions for Regime Through Shadow Banking Scheme |url=https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0159 |access-date=June 8, 2025 |website=U.S. Department of the Treasury |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=June 6, 2025 |title=US sanctions Iranian shadow banking network |url=https://www.iranintl.com/en/202506065371 |access-date=June 8, 2025 |website=iranintl.com |language=en}}</ref>
Relations further worsened after Iranian authorities threatened to attack U.S. and allied bases in the Middle East if the former were to involve itself in the Iran–Israel war,<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Schneid |first=Rebecca |date=June 21, 2025 |title=Iran Issues New Grave Warning to Trump, U.S. |url=https://time.com/7296396/iran-new-warning-trump-united-states-israel-conflict-dangerous/ |access-date=June 22, 2025 |magazine=Time|language=en}}</ref> after which the U.S. intervened in the Israeli attacks and bombed key Iranian nuclear sites.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 21, 2025 |title=US intervenes in war between Israel and Iran, striking 3 Iranian nuclear sites |url=https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-war-nuclear-talks-geneva-news-06-21-2025-a7b0cdaba28b5817467ccf712d214579 |access-date=June 22, 2025 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref>
On June 21, 2025, the U.S., under the orders of Trump, bombed three Iranian nuclear enrichment sites (Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan), briefly joining the Iran–Israel war.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Nagourney |first1=Eric |last2=Haberman |first2=Maggie |date=June 21, 2025 |title=U.S. Enters War With Iran, Striking Fordo Nuclear Site: Live Updates |url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/21/world/iran-israel-trump |access-date=June 22, 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331|author-link2=Maggie Haberman|name-list-style=and}}</ref> Following the attacks, Iran pulled out and suspended nuclear talks indefinitely.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Crisp |first=Elizabeth |date=June 13, 2025 |title=Iran pulls out of nuclear talks with the US |url=https://thehill.com/policy/international/5348689-iran-nuclear-deal-talks-suspended/ |work=The Hill}}</ref>
thumb|US bases in the Middle East
During the 2025–2026 Iranian protests, Trump repeatedly stated to the Iranian authorities that the U.S. would "intervene" if the Iranian government did not halt its crackdown on protesters.<ref>{{cite news |title=Trump warns of 'very strong action' if Iran follows through with threats of hanging protestors |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/01/13/iran-protest-crackdown-death-tolls-soars-trump-says-help-is-on-its-way_6749387_4.html |work=Le Monde |date=January 13, 2026}}</ref>
In January 2026, during the widespread and increasingly violent crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran, Trump stated that the U.S. was seriously considering a range of responses, including potential military options, if Iranian government actions crossed established "red lines". Trump said that the U.S. military was evaluating "very strong options" and that senior advisers were scheduled to discuss possible actions, while also noting that Iranian leaders had reached out for negotiations. Iranian officials stated that Iranian forces would retaliate against U.S. forces and allied interests in the region if U.S. forces attacked.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Donald Trump says US 'looking' at military operations in Iran|url=https://www.ft.com/content/62f8d723-fcb2-4712-8b61-a13e967f642a |work=Financial Times}}</ref> On January 16, 2026, Trump announced that the Iranian leadership had reportedly canceled over 800 planned executions.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Christou |first1=William |title=Ali Khamenei says thousands killed in Iran protests, some in 'inhuman, savage manner' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/17/senior-iranian-cleric-calls-for-protester-executions-in-defiance-of-trump-claims |work=The Guardian |date=January 17, 2026}}</ref> On January 27, 2026, following the deployment of the USS ''Abraham Lincoln'' to the region the day before, a multi-day U.S. aerial military drill in the region was announced.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Roth |first=Andrew |date=January 27, 2026 |title=US announces multi-day aerial military drills in the Middle East amid Iran tensions |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/27/us-announces-multi-day-aerial-military-drills-in-the-middle-east-amid-iran-tensions |access-date=January 28, 2026 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> On the same day Trump said: "There is another beautiful war fleet sailing toward Iran right now."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trump: Another war fleet heading toward Iran |url=https://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/middleeastnews/902325/lbci-lebanon-articles/en |access-date=January 28, 2026 |website=LBCIV7 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Trump says another "armada" sailing toward Iran |url=https://en.people.cn/n3/2026/0128/c90000-20420020.html |access-date=January 28, 2026 |website=People's Daily Online|date=2026-01-28}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Cancian |first=Mark F. |last2=Park |first2=Chris H. |date=February 20, 2026 |title=U.S. Military in the Middle East: Numbers Behind Trump's Threats Against Iran |url=https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-military-middle-east-numbers-behind-trumps-threats-against-iran |journal=Center for Strategic and International Studies |language=en}}</ref> In addition, The Pentagon ordered U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles that were deployed at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in Britain to move forward to American air bases in Jordan.<ref name=":0"/> The January 2026 U.S. military buildup has been the largest concentration of air and naval assets in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.<ref name=":1"/>
In February 2026, following the heightened tensions in January, Iran and the United States held a new round of diplomatic talks in Muscat, Oman, with Oman acting as a mediator. The discussions primarily focused on Iran's nuclear program and the potential easing of economic sanctions. The Iranian delegation was led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, while the U.S. delegation included senior officials from the State Department.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Iran, US hold pivotal talks in Oman as confrontation looms |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-us-negotiate-oman-amid-deep-rifts-mounting-war-fears-2026-02-06/|date=2026-02-06|access-date=2026-05-28|website=reuters.com|last=Benmansour|first=Mohammed|name-list-style=and|first3=Nayera|last3=Abdallah|first2=Parisa|last2=Hafezi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gambrell |first=Jon |date=February 6, 2026 |title=Oman mediates indirect US-Iran talks over Tehran's nuclear program |url=https://www.wsls.com/news/world/2026/02/06/iran-and-us-set-for-talks-in-oman-over-nuclear-program-after-tehran-shaken-by-nationwide-protests/ |access-date=February 6, 2026 |website=WSLS |language=en|agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Iran and US to reopen nuclear talks in Oman after weeks of tension |url=https://abcnews.com/International/iran-us-reopen-nuclear-talks-oman-after-weeks/story?id=129907788|date=2026-02-06|access-date=2026-05-28|website=abcnews.com|last=Shalvey|first=Kevin}}</ref>
During the talks, the United States reportedly sought to address Iran's missile program and regional activities, whereas Iran emphasized that negotiations should remain limited to nuclear issues and sanctions relief. Both sides expressed commitment to continuing diplomatic engagement, though no immediate agreement was announced.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kestler-D'Amours |first=Jillian |title=Indirect US-Iran talks under way in Oman in push to prevent war |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/2/6/us-iran-talks-live-critical-negotiations-set-to-begin-in-oman |access-date=February 6, 2026 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en|last4=Haider|first4=Sarah|first3=Edna|last3=Mohamed|first2=Christine|last2=Maguire}}</ref> Reports showed that Iran may have unbelievable flexibility towards further discussions in averting war.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scahill |first=Jeremy |title=Iranian Officials to Drop Site: Tehran is Showing “Unbelievable Level of Flexibility" in Talks to Prevent U.S. War |url=https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/iran-us-negotiations-nuclear-ballistic-missiles-military-buildup-trump |access-date=February 24, 2026 |website=dropsitenews.com |language=en}}</ref>
The renewed dialogue was widely interpreted as an effort by both sides to prevent further escalation following the January tensions, amid concerns that miscalculation could lead to a broader regional confrontation.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 25, 2026 |title=US‑Iran Tensions: Diplomacy or Escalation? Latest Geneva Updates |url=https://thedailyreads.com/us-iran-tensions-diplomacy-or-escalation-feb/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260225091731/https://thedailyreads.com/us-iran-tensions-diplomacy-or-escalation-feb/ |archive-date=February 25, 2026 |access-date=February 25, 2026 |work=The Daily Reads |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gambrell |first=Jon |date=February 24, 2026 |title=Iranians worry over American military buildup as last-chance round of talks nears |url=https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-nuclear-talks-war-tensions-2f8a810f852655bdede724d300cc72c3 |access-date=February 25, 2026 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref>
====2026 Iran war==== {{Main|2026 Iran war|United States war crimes#2026 Iran war}}
[[File:Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab photos from Mehr (3).jpg|thumb|Rescuers and residents searching through the rubble of the Minab girls' elementary school, destroyed by the United States]] On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched a large-scale joint military operation against Iran, codenamed ''Operation Epic Fury'' by the U.S. and ''Operation Roaring Lion'' by Israel. Trump announced the operation in a video statement, stating the objectives were to destroy Iran's ballistic missile program, prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and ultimately bring about regime change in Iran.<ref name="bbc-attack"/> Israeli prime minister Netanyahu said the strikes aimed to remove "the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran."<ref>{{cite news |title=World reacts to US, Israel attack on Iran, Tehran retaliation |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/28/world-reacts-to-us-israel-attack-on-iran-tehran-retaliation |work=Al Jazeera |date=February 28, 2026 |access-date=February 28, 2026}}</ref> The Israeli Defense Forces stated that approximately 200 fighter jets struck around 500 targets across Iran, including air defense systems, missile launchers, and command-and-control facilities.<ref name="bbc-attack">{{cite news |title=What is happening in Iran? What we know about US-Israel attack and Tehran response |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2dyz6p3weo |work=BBC News |date=February 28, 2026 |access-date=February 28, 2026}}</ref> Strikes were reported in at least 14 Iranian cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, Karaj, and Kermanshah.<ref>{{cite news |title=A visual guide to US-Israeli strikes on Iran – and Tehran's response |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/28/us-israel-strikes-iran-tehran-response-visual-guide |work=The Guardian |date=February 28, 2026 |access-date=February 28, 2026|last=Christou|first=William}}</ref> An Iranian Red Crescent spokesperson reported that 24 of Iran's 31 provinces were affected, with at least 201 people killed, including Ali Khamenei, and 747 injured as of that evening.<ref name="bbc-attack"/> Iran retaliated by launching ballistic missiles and drones at Israel and at U.S. military bases in five Gulf states—Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan—as well as strikes in Saudi Arabia.<ref name="bbc-attack"/> The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.<ref name="bbc-attack"/> United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned both the U.S.–Israeli strikes and Iran's retaliation, stating they "undermine international peace and security," and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alsharif |first=Mirna |date=February 28, 2026 |title=U.N. secretary-general condemns military escalation in Iran |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/live-blog/israel-iran-live-updates-rcna261099/rcrd102084?canonicalCard=true |access-date=February 28, 2026 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref>
On April 3, 2026, it was reported in Axios that the U.S. expelled Iran's deputy ambassador to the UN, in December 2025. The issue remained silenced as it concerned national security. The report said that deputy ambassador Saadat Aghajani was asked to leave the U.S. under "section 13 procedures", rather than declaring him persona non grata.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ravid |first=Barak |date=April 3, 2026 |title=Scoop: U.S. expelled Iran's deputy UN ambassador over national security concerns |url=https://www.axios.com/2026/04/03/iran-diplomat-expelled-us-state-dept |access-date=April 3, 2026 |website=Axios |language=en}}</ref> On April 7, Katie Miller said that the U.S. was planning to revoke up to 4,000 visas of people with connections to the Iranian government.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Katie Miller says US plans to revoke 4,000 visas for Iranian elites |url=https://www.iranintl.com/en/202604071774 |access-date=April 7, 2026 |website=Iran International}}</ref>
Following Donald Trump's March 2026 assertion that it was not "appropriate" for Iran to participate in the 2026 World Cup due to safety concerns amid military conflict, the Iran national team issued a statement arguing that no one could exclude them and that the United States should instead be removed as host for failing to ensure the safety of participating teams.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Chris |title=Iran say USA should be banned from World Cup 2026 after Trump claims ‘not appropriate’ for them to play |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup-2026-iran-usa-trump-boycott-b2938457.html |work=The Independent |date=March 14, 2026}}</ref>
In April 2026, U.S. special envoy Paolo Zampolli proposed that Italy replace Iran at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, prompting swift rejection from Italian officials who called the idea "not appropriate" and "shameful." Italian Sports Minister Andrea Abodi stated that qualification "must be earned on the pitch," while FIFA president Gianni Infantino reiterated that Iran would participate as scheduled.<ref>{{cite news |title=Italy slams Trump envoy proposal of taking Iran's place in World Cup 2026 |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/4/23/italy-slams-trump-envoy-proposal-of-taking-irans-place-in-world-cup-2026 |work=Al Jazeera |date=April 23, 2026 |access-date=April 24, 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Italian minister rejects proposal to replace Iran at 2026 World Cup, calls idea 'shameful' |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/sports/italian-minister-rejects-proposal-to-replace-iran-at-2026-world-cup-calls-idea-shameful-/3916555 |work=Anadolu Ajansı |date=April 23, 2026 |access-date=April 24, 2026}}</ref>
On April 8, 2026, the United States and Iran agreed to a provisional two-week ceasefire ahead of planned negotiations in Pakistan. As part of the agreement, Tehran stated it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic. Following the announcement of the conditional ceasefire, global oil prices experienced a sharp decline.<ref>{{cite web |title=US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire as Tehran says it will reopen strait of Hormuz |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/07/trump-iran-war-ceasefire |website=The Guardian |date=April 8, 2026 |access-date=May 28, 2026|last=Roth|first=Andrew}}</ref>
In April 2026, the Iranian-flagged container ship MV Touska was intercepted en route from Malaysia to Iran. According to Iranian sources and state media, the vessel was operating near the Gulf of Oman when it was targeted by United States naval forces as part of what they described as enforcement of a maritime blockade.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oil prices jump after U.S. seizes Iranian vessel, imperiling ceasefire |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/04/19/trump-iran-war-hormuz-strait-negotiations/ |website=The Washington Post |date=April 20, 2026 |access-date=April 29, 2026|last=Alfaro|first=Mariana|first3=Joyce|last3=Sohyun Lee|first2=Tara|last2=Copp|last4=Westfall|first4=Sammy|name-list-style=and}}</ref> Iranian reports stated that the ship was struck by the USS ''Spruance'', which allegedly disabled its propulsion by firing on the engine room, after which U.S. Marines boarded and took control of the vessel. Iranian officials and media characterized the incident as an attack on a civilian commercial vessel and a violation of an existing ceasefire agreement.<ref>{{cite web |title=US intercepts and seizes Iranian-flagged cargo ship, Trump says |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c239500dx8ro |website=BBC |date=April 20, 2026 |access-date=April 29, 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=US military seizes Iran-flagged ship trying to pass strait of Hormuz blockade |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/19/trump-us-seizes-iran-flagged-cargo-ship |website=The Guardian |date=April 20, 2026 |access-date=April 29, 2026|last=Oladipo|first=Gloria}}</ref>
According to statements from U.S. officials, the operation was conducted after warnings were issued to the vessel, which was alleged to be violating sanctions and attempting to breach a naval blockade. The U.S. administration stated that the ship was declared subject to sanctions and that its seizure was part of enforcement actions in the region.<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. struck, seized Iranian-flagged ship Touska in Gulf of Oman, Trump says |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/19/trump-navy-iran-ship-gulf-of-oman.html |website=CNBC |date=April 19, 2026 |access-date=April 29, 2026}}</ref> Iranian authorities further claimed that the incident triggered retaliatory actions in the region and cited it as evidence of a breakdown of the ceasefire arrangements.<ref>{{cite web |title=US captures Iranian ship Touska amid mediation efforts: All we know |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/20/us-captures-iranian-ship-touska-amid-mediation-efforts-all-we-know |website=Al Jazeera |date=April 20, 2026 |access-date=April 29, 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=US Navy seizes an Iranian-flagged ship near Strait of Hormuz and Tehran vows swift response |url=https://apnews.com/article/us-iran-war-israel-hormuz-19-april-2026-0a637f98d588930f195f61cffe07d4f3 |website=AP News |date=April 20, 2026 |access-date=April 29, 2026}}</ref>
According to data from Brown University's Iran War Energy Cost Tracker, as reported by Anadolu Agency on May 12, 2026, the war had cost American consumers more than $37.3 billion in additional energy prices since February 28, 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-05-12 |title=Iran war has cost Americans more than $37.3B in fuel price increases: Study |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/iran-war-has-cost-americans-more-than-373b-in-fuel-price-increases-study/3934401 |access-date=2026-05-12 |website=Anadolu |language=tr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Iran war has cost Americans more than $37.3B in fuel price increases |url=https://www.anews.com.tr/world/2026/05/12/iran-war-has-cost-americans-more-than-373b-in-fuel-price-increases-study |access-date=2026-05-12 |website=anews |language=en}}</ref>
According to a classified United States intelligence assessment from early May 2026, Iran has regained operational access to most of its missile sites. This includes 30 out of the 33 missile sites located along the Strait of Hormuz.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-05-13 |title=US intelligence shows Iran retains significant missile capabilities: NYT |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/us-israel-iran-war/us-intelligence-shows-iran-retains-significant-missile-capabilities-nyt/3935641 |access-date=2026-05-13 |website=Anadolu |language=en}}</ref>
== Economic relations == {{See also|United States sanctions against Iran|Economy of the United States|Economy of Iran|Agriculture in Iran|Healthcare in Iran|Iran–United States copyright relations}} Trade between Iran and the United States reached $623 million in 2008. According to the United States Census Bureau, American exports to Iran reached $93 million in 2007 and $537 million in 2008. American imports from Iran decreased from $148 million in 2007 to $86 million in 2008.<ref name="iran-daily.com">http://www.nitc.co.ir/iran-daily/1387/3300/html/economy.htm {{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> This data does not include trade conducted through third countries to circumvent the trade embargo. It has been reported that the United States Treasury Department has granted nearly 10,000 special licenses to American companies over the past decade to conduct business with Iran.<ref>[https://www.haaretz.com/news/international/report-u-s-treasury-approved-business-with-iran-1.332722?localLinksEnabled=false "Report: U.S. Treasury approved business with Iran."]{{dead link|date=May 2026|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} AP, December 24, 2010.</ref>
US exports to Iran include{{when|date=November 2013}} cigarettes (US$73 million); corn (US$68 million); chemical wood pulp, soda or sulfate (US$64 million); soybeans (US$43 million); medical equipment (US$27 million); vitamins (US$18 million); and vegetable seeds (US$12 million).<ref name="iran-daily.com"/>
In May 2013, U.S. president Barack Obama lifted a trade embargo of communications equipment and software to non-government Iranians.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-29/u-s-to-ease-iran-sanctions-on-laptops-mobile-phones.html |publisher=Bloomberg |title=U.S. Lifts Iran Sanctions on Laptops, Mobile Phones}}</ref> In June 2013, the Obama administration expanded its sanctions against Iran, targeting its auto industry and, for the first time, its currency.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-06/04/c_124805992.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603232136/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-06/04/c_124805992.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 3, 2013|title=U.S. targets Iran's currency in new sanctions|publisher=Xinhua|access-date=April 2, 2016}}</ref> [[File:Fourth match between Iran and The United States national volleyball teams in 2015 FIVB Volleyball World League (7).jpg|thumb|Fourth match between Iran and the U.S. during the 2015 FIVB Volleyball World League]]
According to a 2014 study by the National Iranian American Council, sanctions cost the U.S. over $175 billion in lost trade and 279,000 lost job opportunities.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tehrantimes.com/economy-and-business/117072-iran-sanctions-cost-us-over-175b-in-lost-trade-study |title=Iran sanctions cost U.S. Over $175b in lost trade: Study |access-date=July 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726000726/http://tehrantimes.com/economy-and-business/117072-iran-sanctions-cost-us-over-175b-in-lost-trade-study |archive-date=July 26, 2014|website=Tehran Times}}</ref>
According to ''Business Monitor International'': {{Blockquote|The tentative rapprochement between Iran and the US, which began in the second half of 2013, has the potential to become a world-changing development, and unleash tremendous geopolitical and economic opportunities, if it is sustained. Tehran and Washington have been bitter enemies since 1979, when the Iranian Revolution overthrew the pro-American Shah and replaced him with a virulently anti-American Islamist regime. Since then, Iran has been at the vanguard of countries actively challenging the US-led world order. This has led to instability in the Middle East, and Iran's relative isolation in international affairs. Yet, if Iran and the US were to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East could decline sharply, and Iran could come to be perceived as a promising emerging market in its own right.<ref>{{cite web |title=Iran-US Rapprochement: Historic Opportunities Beckon |publisher=Business Monitor International |date=January 10, 2014 |url=http://store.businessmonitor.com/iran-us-rapprochement-historic-opportunities-beckon.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521083824/http://store.businessmonitor.com/iran-us-rapprochement-historic-opportunities-beckon.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 21, 2014}}</ref>}}
On April 22, 2019, under the Trump administration, the U.S. demanded that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases or face economic penalties, announcing that the six-month sanction exemptions for China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey instated a year prior would not be renewed and would end by May 1. The move was seen as an attempt to completely stifle Iran's oil exports. Iran insisted the sanctions were illegal and that it had attached "no value or credibility" to the waivers. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said President Trump's decision not to renew the waivers showed his administration was "dramatically accelerating our pressure campaign in a calibrated way that meets our national security objectives while maintaining well supplied global oil markets".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-48011496|title=Iran oil: US to end sanctions exemptions for major importers|date=April 22, 2019|access-date=May 25, 2019|work=BBC News}}</ref> On April 30, Iran stated it would continue to export oil despite U.S. pressure.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://whtc.com/news/articles/2019/apr/30/iran-says-it-will-keep-exporting-oil-despite-us-pressure/|title=Iran says it will keep exporting oil despite U.S. pressure|date=April 30, 2019|access-date=May 25, 2019|archive-date=May 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525183744/https://whtc.com/news/articles/2019/apr/30/iran-says-it-will-keep-exporting-oil-despite-us-pressure/|url-status=dead|work=whtc.com}}</ref>
On May 8, 2019, exactly one year after the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the U.S. imposed a new layer of duplicate sanctions on Iran, targeting its metal exports, a sector that generates 10 percent of its export revenue. The move came amid escalating tension in the region and just hours after Iran threatened to start enriching more uranium if it did not get relief from U.S. measures that are crippling its economy. The Trump administration has said the sanctions will only be lifted if Iran fundamentally changes its behavior and character.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pompeo-vows-us-will-block-iran-from-ever-building-a-nuclear-weapon/2019/05/08/bdecc3ee-bfec-4293-b7d1-ae5b45cdc118_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|title= U.S. issues new sanctions against Iran on anniversary of Trump's withdrawal from nuclear deal|date=May 8, 2019|access-date=May 25, 2019|last=Morello|first=Carol}}</ref>
On June 24, 2019, following continued escalations in the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump announced new targeted sanctions against Iranian and IRGC leadership, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his office. IRGC targets included Naval commander Alireza Tangsiri, Aerospace commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, and Ground commander Mohammad Pakpour, and others.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 24, 2019 |title=Trump issues "hard-hitting" Iran sanctions |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-signs-new-iran-sanctions-order-2019-06-24-live-updates/ |work=CBS News}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=June 24, 2019 |title=Executive Order on Imposing Sanctions with Respect to Iran |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-imposing-sanctions-respect-iran/ |work=whitehouse.gov |via=National Archives}}</ref> U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions will block "billions" in assets.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 24, 2019 |title=Latest sanctions on Iran will block 'billions' in assets: US |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20190624-latest-sanctions-iran-will-block-billions-assets-us |work=France24}}</ref>
The U.S. Treasury Department Financial Crimes Enforcement Network imposed a measure that further prohibits the U.S. banking system from use by an Iranian bank, thereby requiring U.S. banks to step up due diligence on the accounts in their custody.<ref name="fincen_5th_measure_iran">{{cite news |title=Imposition of Fifth Special Measure against the Islamic Republic of Iran as a Jurisdiction of Primary Money Laundering Concern |url=https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/imposition-fifth-special-measure-against-islamic-republic-iran-jurisdiction |agency=Financial Crimes Enforcement Network |publisher=U.S. Treasury Department}}</ref>
The U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) blacklisted four Iranian metal sector organizations along with their foreign subsidiaries, on July 23, 2020. One German subsidiary and three in the United Arab Emirates—owned and controlled by Iran's biggest steel manufacturer, Mobarakeh Steel Company—were also blacklisted by Washington for yielding millions of dollars for Iran's aluminum, steel, iron, and copper sectors. The sanctions froze all U.S. assets controlled by the companies in question and further prohibited Americans from associating with them.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-sanctions/u-s-imposes-sanctions-on-companies-operating-in-irans-metals-sector-idUSKBN23W2DE|title=U.S. imposes sanctions on companies operating in Iran's metals sector|access-date=July 23, 2020|website=Reuters|date=June 25, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1044|title=Treasury Targets Major Iranian Metals Companies and Foreign Subsidiaries and Sales Agents|access-date=June 25, 2020|website=U.S. Department of the Treasury}}</ref>
On October 8, 2020, the U.S. Treasury Department placed sanctions on 18 Iranian banks. Any American connection to these banks is to be blocked and reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and, 45 days after the sanctions take effect, anyone transacting with these banks may "be subject to an enforcement action." Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the goal was to pressure Iran to end nuclear activities and terrorist funding.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hansler|first=Jennifer|date=October 8, 2020|title=US imposes sweeping new sanctions on Iran's financial sector|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/08/politics/iran-banks-sanctions/index.html|access-date=October 8, 2020|website=CNN}}</ref>
On October 30, 2020, it was revealed that the U.S. had "seized Iranian missiles shipped to Yemen", and it had "sold 1.1 million barrels of previously seized Iranian oil that was bound for Venezuela" in two shipments: the Liberia-flagged ''Euroforce'' and Singapore-flagged ''Maersk Progress'', and sanctioned 11 new Iranian entities.<ref name="snlgm">{{cite news |last1=Lynch |first1=Sarah N. |title=U.S. seizes Iranian missiles, slaps Iran-related sanctions on 11 entities |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-us-seizes-iranian-missiles-slaps-iran-related-sanctions-on-1-2/ |agency=Reuters|publisher=The Globe and Mail Inc |date=October 29, 2020}}</ref>
In February 2026, Donald Trump issued an executive order imposing tariffs of up to 25 percent on nations engaged in trade with Iran. The policy focuses on Iran's commercial partners rather than the country itself and aims to reduce international transactions with Iran, even as diplomatic talks continued.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trump signs order threatening tariffs on nations doing business with Iran |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-signs-order-threatening-tariffs-nations-doing-business-with-iran-2026-02-06/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Faisal |title=Iran protests updates: Trump slaps US tariff on Iran's trading partners |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/1/12/iran-protests-live-us-rhetoric-rises-as-tehran-announces-3-days-mourning |access-date=February 7, 2026 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en|first4=Edna|last4=Mohamed|first3=Fiona|last3=Kelliher|first2=Urooba|last2=Jamal}}</ref>
== Public opinion ==
=== Iranians === Research has shown that most Iranians hold a positive attitude about the American people, though not the U.S. government.<ref>Shahghasemi, E., Heisey, D. R., & Mirani, G. (October 1, 2011). [https://www.immi.se/intercultural/article/download/Shahghasemietal-2011-3/604 "How do Iranians and U.S. Citizens perceive each other: A systematic review."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205235903/https://www.immi.se/intercultural/article/download/Shahghasemietal-2011-3/604 |date=February 5, 2024 }} ''Journal of Intercultural Communication'', 27.</ref><ref>Shahghasemi, E., & Heisey, D. R. (January 1, 2009). "The Cross-Cultural Schemata of Iranian-American People Toward Each Other: A Qualitative Approach." ''Intercultural Communication Studies'', 18, 1, 143–160.</ref>
According to a 2019 survey by IranPoll, 13% of Iranians have a favorable view of the United States, with 86% expressing an unfavourable view, the most unfavorable perception of the United States in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.iranpoll.com/publications/maximum-pressure|title=Iranian Public Opinion Under 'Maximum Pressure'|publisher=IranPoll|date=October 15, 2019|access-date=October 18, 2019|archive-date=January 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103140431/https://www.iranpoll.com/publications/maximum-pressure|url-status=live}}</ref>
According to the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy report ''Iranian Public Opinion in the Early Days of the Pezeshkian Administration'' released in May 2025, public opinion in Iran toward the United States has shifted significantly over time. According to survey data, the perception of America as a dangerous country increased from 46% in 2005 to 66% in 2019, before slightly declining to 64% in March 2024. Conversely, views of the United States as a model country for its values and freedoms declined sharply, from 37% in 2005 to 12% in 2019 and further to 9% in 2024. Meanwhile, the proportion of respondents who considered America to be no better or worse than other countries rose steadily, from 14% in 2005 to 20% in 2019 and 25% in March 2024, indicating a gradual normalization alongside persistent negative perceptions.<ref name="CISSMIran2025Report">{{cite report |url=https://cissm.umd.edu/sites/default/files/2025-07/Iranian%20Public%20Opinion%20in%20the%20Early%20Days%20of%20the%20Pezeshkian%20Administration.pdf |title=Iranian Public Opinion in the Early Days of the Pezeshkian Administration |last1=Gallagher |first1=Nancy W. |last2=Mohseni |first2=Ebrahim |last3=Ramsay |first3=Clay |date=May 2025 |publisher=Center for International & Security Studies at Maryland, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland |page=23 |language=en |format=PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260407122343/https://cissm.umd.edu/sites/default/files/2025-07/Iranian%20Public%20Opinion%20in%20the%20Early%20Days%20of%20the%20Pezeshkian%20Administration.pdf |archive-date=April 7, 2026}}</ref>
=== Americans === In NORC polling conducted in 1952 ahead of the coup d'état the following year, 35% of Americans said that it would matter a "great deal" if communists took control of Iran. Public concern about Iran was generally limited before the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. <ref name="MaristIran">{{cite web|url= https://maristpoll.marist.edu/time-machine-iran-from-the-american-perspective/|title= Time Machine: Iran from the American Perspective|work=Marist Poll|date=April 7, 2026|access-date=April 9, 2026}}</ref> After the September 11 attacks made much of the public fearful of future acts of terrorism<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/09/02/two-decades-later-the-enduring-legacy-of-9-11/ |title=Two Decades Later, the Enduring Legacy of 9/11|last1=Hartig|first1=Hannah|last2=Doherty|first2=Carroll|work=Pew Research Center|date=September 2, 2021|access-date=April 27, 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/blog/roper-center-reflects-20-years-polling-911|title= The Roper Center Reflects On 20 Years Of Polling Since 9/11|work=Roper Center for Public Opinion Research|last= Schuldt|date=September 9, 2021|access-date=April 9, 2026|first=Jonathon P.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://news.gallup.com/poll/5011/attack-america-key-trends-indicators.aspx |title= Attack on America: Key Trends and Indicators|work=Gallup|date=December 18, 2001}}</ref>, concerns about Iran intensified. In 2004, 58% of Americans said that they felt that Iran posed a long-term threat to the United States. Many Americans at the time viewed Iran unfavorably and thought it posed a threat to the United States and other countries.<ref name="MaristIran"/>
According to a 2018 Pew poll, 39% of Americans say that limiting the power and influence of Iran should be a top foreign policy priority.<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. Foreign Policy Views by Political Party |url=http://www.people-press.org/2018/11/29/conflicting-partisan-priorities-for-u-s-foreign-policy/ |website=Pew Research Center for the People and the Press |access-date=December 3, 2018 |date=November 29, 2018 |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202042213/http://www.people-press.org/2018/11/29/conflicting-partisan-priorities-for-u-s-foreign-policy/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
According to a 2013 BBC World Service poll, 5% of Americans view Iranian influence positively, with 87% expressing a negative view, the most unfavorable perception of Iran in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globescan.com/images/images/pressreleases/bbc2013_country_ratings/2013_country_rating_poll_bbc_globescan.pdf|title=2013 World Service Poll|work=BBC News|access-date=June 8, 2013|archive-date=October 10, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010192245/http://www.globescan.com/images/images/pressreleases/bbc2013_country_ratings/2013_country_rating_poll_bbc_globescan.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
According to a 2026 Gallup poll, only 13% of Americans have favorable opinions of Iran, while 79% have an unfavorable opinion. This was the second most negative ranking Americans gave out of the 21 foreign countries surveyed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jones|first=Jeffrey M.|date=March 12, 2026|title=Americans' Views of Canada, Great Britain Drop to New Lows|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/703040/americans-views-canada-great-britain-drop-new-lows.aspx|access-date=March 13, 2026|website=Gallup, Inc.|language=en}}</ref>
== See also == {{Portal|Iran|United States|Politics}} * Foreign relations of Iran * Foreign relations of the United States * Embassy of Iran, Washington, D.C. * Embassy of the United States, Tehran * Ambassadors of Iran to the United States * Ambassadors of the United States to Iran * 2026 United States F-15E rescue operation in Iran
== References == {{Reflist}} <!-- /*/ -->
== Further reading == <div style="font-size:85%; column-count:3; column-gap:3em;"> * Afrasiabi, Kaveh L. and Abbas Maleki, ''Iran's Foreign Policy After September 11.'' Booksurge, 2008. * Aliyev, Tural. "The Evaluation of the Nuclear Weapon Agreement with Iran in the Perspective of the Difference Between Obama and Trump's Administration." ''R&S-Research Studies Anatolia Journal'' 4.1: 30–40. [https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1442119 online] * Alvandi, Roham. ''Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War'' (Oxford University Press, 2016). * {{cite book|last1=Bill|first1=James A|title=The Eagle and the Lion: the tragedy of American-Iranian relations|url=https://archive.org/details/eaglelion00bill|url-access=registration|date=1988|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven, Conn.; London|isbn=9780300040975}} * Blight, James G. and Janet M. Lang, et al. ''Becoming Enemies: U.S.-Iran Relations and the Iran-Iraq War, 1979–1988.'' (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014). * Chitsazian, Mohammad Reza, and Seyed Mohammad Ali Taghavi. "An Iranian Perspective on Iran–US Relations: Idealists Versus Materialists." ''Strategic Analysis'' 43.1 (2019): 28–41. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Seyed-Mohammad-Ali-Taghavi-2/publication/331767556_An_Iranian_Perspective_on_Iran-US_Relations_Idealists_Versus_Materialists/links/5cdafc4e458515712eab712b/An-Iranian-Perspective-on-Iran-US-Relations-Idealists-Versus-Materialists.pdf online] * Clinton, Hillary Rodham. ''Hard Choices'' (2014) under Obama; pp 416–446. * Collier, David R. ''Democracy and the nature of American influence in Iran, 1941-1979'' (Syracuse University Press, 2017.) * Cooper, Andrew Scott. ''The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran, and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East'', 2011, {{ISBN|9781439157138}}. * Cordesman, Anthony H. "Iran and US Strategy: Looking beyond the JCPOA." (Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2021). [http://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/210630_Cordesman_Looking_Beyond.pdf online] * Cottam, Richard W. "Human rights in Iran under the Shah." ''Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law'' 12 (1980): 121+ [http://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1913&context=jil online]. * Cottam, Richard W. ''Iran and the United States: A Cold War Case Study'' (1988) on the fall of the Shah * Crist, David. ''The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran'', Penguin Press, 2012. * Cronin, Stephanie. ''The making of modern Iran: state and society under Riza Shah, 1921-1941'' (Routledge, 2003). * Emery, Christian. ''US Foreign Policy and the Iranian Revolution: The Cold War Dynamics of Engagement and Strategic Alliance.'' Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. * Gasiorowski, Mark J. "U.S. Perceptions of the Communist Threat in Iran during the Mossadegh Era." ''Journal of Cold War Studies'' 21.3 (2019): 185–221. [https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/full/10.1162/jcws_a_00898 online] * Ghazvinian, John. ''America and Iran: A History, 1720 to the Present'' (2021), a major scholarly history [https://www.amazon.com/America-Iran-History-1720-Present/dp/0307271811 excerpt] * Harris, David. ''The Crisis: the President, the Prophet, and the Shah—1979 and the Coming of Militant Islam'', (2004). * Heikal, Mohamed Hassanein. ''Iran: The Untold Story: An Insider's Account of America's Iranian Adventure and Its Consequences for the Future.'' New York: Pantheon, 1982. * Johns, Andrew L. "The Johnson Administration, the Shah of Iran, and the Changing Pattern of US-Iranian Relations, 1965–1967: 'Tired of Being Treated like a Schoolboy'." ''Journal of Cold War Studies'' 9.2 (2007): 64–94. [http://h-diplo.org/reviews/PDF/Heiss-Johns.pdf online] * Kashani-Sabet, Firoozeh (2023). ''Heroes to Hostages: America and Iran, 1800–1988.'' Cambridge University Press. * Katzman, Kenneth. [https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL32048.pdf ''Iran: Politics, Human Rights, and U.S. Policy.''] (2017). * Kinch, Penelope. "The Iranian Crisis and the Dynamics of Advice and Intelligence in the Carter Administration." ''Journal of Intelligence History'' 6.2 (2006): 75–87. * Ledeen, Michael A., and William H. Lewis. "Carter and the fall of the Shah: The inside story." ''Washington Quarterly'' 3.2 (1980): 3–40. * Leverett, Flynt: Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms with the Islamic Republic (Picador, 2013) * Mabon, Simon. "Muting the trumpets of sabotage: Saudi Arabia, the US and the quest to securitize Iran." ''British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies'' 45.5 (2018): 742–759. [https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/86940/1/MTS.pdf online] * Moens, Alexander. "President Carter's Advisers and the Fall of the Shah." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 106.2 (1991): 211–237. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2152227Hello online] * Offiler, Ben. ''US Foreign Policy and the Modernization of Iran: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and the Shah'' (Springer, 2015). * Offiler, Ben. ""A spectacular irritant": US–Iranian relations during the 1960s and the World's Best Dressed Man." ''The Historian'' (2021): 1-23, about Khaibar Khan Gudarzian. [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00182370.2021.1915731 online] * Rostam-Kolayi, Jasamin. "The New Frontier Meets the White Revolution: The Peace Corps in Iran, 1962‒76." ''Iranian Studies'' 51.4 (2018): 587–612. * {{cite book |last1=Rubin |first1=Barry M. |title=Paved with Good Intentions: The American Experience and Iran |date=1980 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780195028058}} * Saikal, Amin. ''Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic'' (2019) * Shannon, Michael K. "American–Iranian Alliances: International Education, Modernization, and Human Rights during the Pahlavi Era," ''Diplomatic History'' 39 (Sept. 2015), 661–88. * Shannon, Michael K. ''Losing Hearts and Minds: American-Iranian Relations and International Education during the Cold War'' (2017) [https://www.amazon.com/Losing-Hearts-Minds-American-Iranian-International/dp/1501713132 excerpt] * {{cite book|last1=Slavin|first1=Barbara|author-link=Barbara Slavin|title=Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the US, and the Twisted Path to Confrontation|year=2007|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|isbn=9780312368258|oclc=493683087|url=https://archive.org/details/bitterfriendsbos00slav}} * Summitt, April R. "For a white revolution: John F. Kennedy and the Shah of Iran." ''Middle East Journal'' 58.4 (2004): 560–575. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/April-Summitt/publication/233506979_For_a_White_Revolution_John_F_Kennedy_and_the_Shah_of_Iran/links/54590cdb0cf2bccc4912b427/For-a-White-Revolution-John-F-Kennedy-and-the-Shah-of-Iran.pdf online] * Torbat, Akbar E. "A Glance at US Policies toward Iran: Past [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341991042_A_GLANCE_AT_US_POLICIES_TOWARD_IRAN A_GLANCE_AT_US_POLICIES_TOWARD_IRAN] and Present," ''Journal of Iranian Research and Analysis,'' vol. 20, no. 1 (April 2004), pp. 85–94. * Waehlisch, Martin. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120825032552/http://www.yjil.org/online/volume-37-spring-2012/the-iran-united-states-dispute-the-strait-of-hormuz-and-international-law "The Iran-United States Dispute, the Strait of Hormuz, and International Law,"] ''Yale Journal of International Law,'' Vol. 37 (Spring 2012), pp. 23–34. * Wise, Harold Lee. ''Inside the Danger Zone: The U.S. Military in the Persian Gulf 1987–88.'' (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2007). * Wright, Steven. ''The United States and Persian Gulf Security: The Foundations of the War on Terror.'' (Ithaca Press, 2007).
===Historiography=== * Schayegh, Cyrus. "'Seeing Like a State': An Essay on the Historiography of Modern Iran." ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'' 42#1 (2010): 37–61. * Shannon, Kelly J. "Approaching the Islamic World". ''Diplomatic History'' 44.3 (2020): 387–408, historical focus on US views of Iran. * Shannon, Matthew K. "Reading Iran: American academics and the last shah." ''Iranian Studies'' 51.2 (2018): 289–316. [https://www.academia.edu/download/56482352/Shannon_Iranian_Studies.pdf online]{{dead link|date=February 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} </div>
== External links == {{Commons category|Relations of Iran and the United States}} * [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/07/world/middleeast/iran-timeline.html Timeline] – ''The New York Times'' * [https://ir.usembassy.gov/ Virtual Embassy of the United States in Iran] * [https://www.cfr.org/middle-east-and-north-africa/iran Articles and debates about Iran] by Council on Foreign Relations * [http://www.parstimes.com/history/us_iran.html US-Iran Relations] by parstimes.com * [http://uspolicy.belgium.usembassy.gov/issues/iran/iran.asp United States Policy toward Iran: a Dossier]
;Videos * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca8ddlS_qTE On The Same Page: America's Middle East Allies and Regional Threats] – Foundation for Defense of Democracies – January 15, 2021
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