US-Iran relations

Extracted Attributes

• Nuclear Deal

  Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)

• Iran Population

  90 million people

• Key Conflict Drivers

  Nuclear program, human rights, support for Israel, regional proxy influence

• Trade Embargo Status

  Active since 1995

• Formal Diplomatic Status

  Severed since April 7, 1980

• Protecting Power for Iran in US

  Pakistan

• Protecting Power for US in Iran

  Switzerland

Timeline

• Establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and Qajar Persia. (Source: Web Search)

  1883-01-01

• American financial expert Morgan Shuster is hired to reform Persian finances. (Source: Web Search)

  1911-01-01

• CIA-backed coup overthrows Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1953-08-19

• The Iranian Revolution overthrows the US-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1979-02-11

• Start of the Iran hostage crisis at the US Embassy in Tehran. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1979-11-04

• The United States formally severs diplomatic relations with Iran. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1980-04-07

• The US imposes a comprehensive trade embargo on Iran. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1995-01-01

• The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal is signed. (Source: Web Search)

  2015-07-14

• The Trump administration unilaterally withdraws the US from the JCPOA. (Source: Web Search)

  2018-05-08

• US strikes three key nuclear facilities in Iran citing security concerns. (Source: Web Search)

  2025-01-01

• US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi hold face-to-face nuclear talks. (Source: Web Search)

  2025-02-01

Iran–United States relations

Relations between Iran and the United States in modern day are turbulent 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 US 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 US government, Iran being one of the US's closest allies during the Cold War, which was in turn followed by a dramatic reversal and disagreement between the two countries after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The two nations have had no formal diplomatic relations since 7 April 1980. 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., and the US Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran. In August 2018, Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei banned direct talks with the United States. According to the US Department of Justice, Iran has since attempted to assassinate US officials and dissidents, including US president Donald Trump. 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"). In the West, however, different explanations have been considered, 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. The United States attributes the worsening of relations to the 1979–81 Iran hostage crisis, Iran's repeated human rights abuses since the Islamic Revolution, different restrictions on using spy methods on democratic revolutions by the US, its anti-Western ideology and its nuclear program. Since 1995, the United States has had an embargo on trade with Iran. 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. 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. In response, Iran gradually reduced its commitments under the nuclear deal and eventually exceeded pre-JCPOA enrichment levels. 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. On the other hand, research has shown that most Iranians hold a positive attitude about the American people, though not the US government. 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. 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. 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.

Web Search Results

• History of US-Iran relations: From the 1953 regime change to Trump ...

  (2025) US strikes: The US bombed three key nuclear facilities in Iran, citing security concerns and the defence of Israel. [...] Advertisement [...] (2013) Iran nuclear deal: Between 2013 and 2015, US President Barack Obama began high-level talks with Iran. In 2015, Tehran agreed to the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that would limit Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for an easing of sanctions. China, Russia, France, Germany, the UK and the European Union were also party to the deal that capped Iran’s enrichment at 3.67 percent. (2018) Trump withdraws from the nuclear deal: Under Trump’s first term, the US unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 and slapped back sanctions against Iran. Trump and Israel had been critical of the deal. Iran also called off its commitments and began producing enriched uranium beyond the limits the deal had imposed.

• Iran: Background and U.S. Policy

  Successive U.S. Administrations have identified several Iranian policies as challenges to U.S. interests, including the Iranian government's support for terrorist groups and other partners across the Middle East region (sometimes referred to as the 'axis of resistance'); Iran's missile and nuclear programs; its human rights violations; and its deepening ties with Russia and the People's Republic of China. Congress has played a major role in shaping U.S. policy toward Iran, including by authorizing extensive U.S. sanctions, reviewing past diplomatic agreements with Iran, and funding support to U.S. partners facing Iranian threats. Iran and the United States do not have formal diplomatic relations and have largely acted antagonistically since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 but have [...] Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed Shah and ushered in the Islamic Republic, Iran has presented a major foreign policy challenge for the United States, with successive U.S. Administrations identifying Iran and its activities as a threat to the United States and its interests. Of particular concern are the Iranian government's nuclear program, its military capabilities, its support for terrorist groups, and its partnerships with Russia and the People's Republic of China (PRC). The U.S. government has condemned the Iranian government's human rights violations and detention of U.S. citizens and others, and has wrestled with how to support protest movements in Iran. The United States has used a range of policy tools intended to reduce the threat posed by Iran, [...] U.S.-Iran diplomacy and the responses of regional and global actors to U.S. policy may prompt new issues, decisions, and debates for Congress. If talks lead to a formal agreement on Iran's nuclear program, the Administration would be required to submit the accord for congressional review under INARA. Congress could assess a nuclear agreement on its merits and weigh whether or how to engage on other issues of congressional concern such as regional security and human rights. Congress could exercise oversight of executive branch actions (including the content and conduct of negotiations) and could consider measures supporting, opposing, or placing conditions on the relaxation or removal of U.S. sanctions on Iran. Were talks not to result in an agreement or to end acrimoniously, Congress

• The Dilemma of U.S.-Iran Relations - UVA Magazine

  It will take political will in Tehran and Washington to overcome the 33 years of mutual demonization and hostility since the Revolution. But the two sides are not talking to each other, while the drumbeats of war over Iran’s nuclear program continue. The need for better understanding between Iran and the U.S. has never been as vital as it is today. The dilemma of U.S.-Iran relations is how to change 70 years of friendship and 33 years of hostility into normal relations. It could be done if the two countries recognize that they have common interests in preventing the rise of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq, avoiding a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and securing uninterrupted flow of Persian Gulf oil to world markets. [...] Nevertheless, Iran continued to seek U.S. friendship as a counterweight to British and Russian pressures. Mohammad Reza Shah, who ruled Iran from 1941 to 1979, benefited from his "special relationship" with the U.S. The Truman administration pressured the Soviet Union to withdraw its occupation forces from northern Iran in 1946; then the CIA overthrew the shah’s opponent, democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Musaddiq, returning the shah to power in 1953; and in 1971 the Nixon administration anointed the shah’s regime as the policeman of the Persian Gulf. [...] To resist imperialist pressures, the Iranian government established diplomatic relations with the U.S. in 1883, and the Iranian parliament hired an American financial expert, Morgan Shuster, in 1911, to reform the foreign-dominated finances of the country. British and Russian machinations, however, compelled him to leave Iran. He wrote about his bitter experience in his 1912 book, The Strangling of Persia.

• MYTH vs. FACT: The Effect of Poor US-Iran Relations on Everyday ...

  This enduring rift between the United States and Iran has resulted in a detached perspective among many Americans, leading them to view Iran as effectively disconnected from US interests and their daily concerns. However, Iran is an influential country, with a population of 90 million people, and its economic fluctuations have direct consequences for the US economy. Indeed, sanctions against it, which have served as the US’ primary policy tool for applying pressure to the Iranian government, have also boomeranged, negatively impacting US economic interests. Global Enterprise [...] for American products in Iran - with a population of over 90 million people - which is frustratingly inaccessible to American businesses. Very simply, historical animosity between Iran and America has cost the US billions of dollars in lost trade and disadvantaged American companies in favor of those in countries like China that do not abide by US sanctions. [...] Background The US and Iran had a close relationship until the pro-Western Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was overthrown in favor of the Islamic Republic. This historic event, combined with the fateful hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, set the tone for US-Iran relations for decades to come, and was the beginning of US policy to impose ever-stricter sanctions against Iran in order to isolate it and reduce its regional influence.

• Timeline: U.S. Relations With Iran

  A second Donald Trump administration kicks off with both a warning to Iran that its support for the Houthis should end “immediately,” as well as a signal of interest in talks on its nuclear program. Weeks later, Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, hold face-to-face talks on Iran’s nuclear program. Details are not fully released, but both sides confirm progress, and Iran indicates that they will discuss a new framework for a nuclear deal. U.S. messaging is mixed, with Witkoff both publicly suggesting a cap on enrichment and a cessation of nuclear build-out entirely. Iran maintains it has a right to nuclear enrichment and that its program is peaceful. Tehran limiting its nuclear program in exchange for Washington lifting its longtime