- The U.S.-Iran relations have been tense since 1953, when the U.S., along with British intelligence agencies, orchestrated a coup to oust Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. There was a power struggle between the Shah (Iranian king Mohammad Reza Pahlavi) and Mossadegh.
- Later in 1979, during the Iranian Revolution, the U.S.-backed Shah was overthrown by opponents, who resisted his westernization, modernization and secularization efforts.
- In 2002, the then U.S. President George Bush came up with the infamous phrase “Axis of Evil” in his speech to refer to Iraq, Iran and North Korea as common enemies of the world. The U.S. charged these countries with sponsoring terrorism and pursuing weapons of mass destruction. The speech caused outage in Iran.
- The two countries have had a strained relationship ever since but tensions mounted after Donald Trump became President in 2017.
- In May 2018, Trump pulled the U.S. out of an important international agreement known as the Iran nuclear deal. He imposed economic sanctions against Iran and threatened countries and firms with sanctions if they bought Iran’s oil.
- In May and June 2019, explosions hit six oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, and the U.S. held Iran responsible for the attacks. However, Iran denied the accusation.
- In June 2019, Iran shot down a U.S. military drone over the Strait of Hormuz, claiming that the drone had violated their airspace, while U.S. responded that the drone was well within international airspace.
- In July 2019, Iran rolled back key commitments under the nuclear deal.
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