3 | NEWS
U.S. RELATIONS A timeline of all of the U.S.-Iran relations.
PHOTO CREDIT TO: NPR, NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE, THE ATLANTIC, BUSINESS INSIDER, POLITICO, US NAVAL INSTITUTE NEWS, AND THE SUN
By Abby Cox Social Media Editor
1953: Overthrow of Mosaddegh The U.S. and British intelligence agencies started a coup to remove Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddegh, the country’s democratically elected leader. Mosaddegh sought to examine the documents of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), a British corporation, and wanted to restrict its control over Iranian oil reserves. It was the first covert action of the United States to overthrow a foreign government during peacetime.
1979: Iran Revolution The Iranian Revolution was series of events that involved the overthrow of the last monarch of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the replacement of his government with an Islamic republic under the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was supported by the United States.
1979-’81: US Embassy hostage crisis
In November 1979 protesters seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, holding American hostages inside for 444 days. The day of President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in January 1981 the remaining 52 hostages were released.
1985-’86: Iran Contra scandal U.S. senior administration officials secretly shipped weapons to Iran, supposedly for Tehran’s assistance in freeing U.S. hostages in Lebanon. However, the profits were illegally funneled to Nicaraguan rebels which created a political crisis for President Reagan.
1988: Iran Passenger Plane shot down
An Iran Air flight is shot down by the American warship U.S.S. Vicennes in the Persian Gulf on July 3. All 290 passengers were killed, most of whom were Iranian pilgrims on their way to Mecca.
2002: “Axis of Evil”
President George Bush denounces Iran as part of an “axis of evil” with Iraq and North Korea in his State of the Union address which caused outrage in Iran.
2000s: Nuclear Fears and Tensions
In 2002 an Iranian opposition group announced that Iran was developing nuclear facilities which included a uranium enrichment plant. The U.S. then accused Iran of a clandestine nuclear weapons program but Iran denied the allegation. However, multiple rounds of sanctions were enforced by the U.N., U.S. and E.U. against the government of ultra-conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As a result, within two years Iran’s currency lost two-thirds of its value.
2013-’16: Nuclear Deal
In September 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama and Iran’s new moderate president Hassan Rouhani spoke by phone - the first top-level conversation between the countries in over 30 years. Diplomatic activity increased between the U.S. and Iran over the next few years. Then in 2015, Iran agreed to a long-term deal with a group of world powers known as the P5+1 regarding its nuclear program. The arrangement meant that in return for the removal of the debilitating economic sanctions, Iran agreed to restrict its sensitive nuclear activities and allow international inspectors.
