On the President's Desk: Iran
US relations with Iran (then called Persia) began during the Presidency of Franklin Pierce when the Shah of Persia, Nassereddin Shah Qajar, officially dispatched Persia's first ambassador, Mirza Abolhasan Shirazi, to Washington. It wasn't until 1883, under President Chester Alan Arthur, that the US reciprcated and Samuel G. W. Benjamin was appointed as the first official US diplomatic envoy to Iran. Formal Ambassadorial relations were not established until 1944. Americans had been traveling to Iran since the 1880s, although missionaries Justin Perkins and Asahel Grant first went to Persia in 1834.
After the first world war, the Persians sought the US financial help, but this plea met with opposition in the IS and the Persians withdrew the request. Relations between Iran and the United States remained friendly and many Iranians saw the US as a "third force" in their struggle to break free of British and Russian dominance in Persian affairs. In 1936, Iran withdrew its ambassador in Washington after the publication of an article criticizing Reza Shah in the New York Daily Herald.[31] The withdrawal lasted for nearly one year.
In 1941 the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran deposed Reza Shah, who was believed to be Axis-sympathizer. The allies wanted a supply route for war material to the USSR. The last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, maintained close ties with the United States during most of his reign, which lasted from 1941 until he was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution in 1979. He pursued a modernizing economic policy, and a pro-American foreign policy. Iran's border with the Soviet Union, and its position as the largest and most powerful country in the oil-rich Persian Gulf, made Iran a valuable ally in the Middle East.
During the Cold War began, the Soviet Union tried to set up separatist states in Iranian Azerbaijan and Kurdistan. In 1952 and 1953, Iranian prime minister Mohammed Mossadeq began nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). Established by the British in the early 20th century, the company shared profits (85% for Britain, and 15% for Iran), but withheld their financial records from the Iranian government. Iranians supported nationalization of the AIOC, and Parliament unanimously agreed to nationalize its holdings. The British retaliated with an embargo on Iranian oil, which was supported by international oil companies. Iran's economy suffered as a result. President Harry Truman pressed Britain to moderate its position. Mosaddeq visited Washington, believing that he had American support for his position, even though the United States honored the British embargo and the CIA station in Tehran carried out covert activities" against Mosaddeq
When Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower replaced Truman, the United States continued to work to destabilize Mosaddeq's government. In spring and summer 1953, the United States and Britain, through a covert CIA operation called Operation Ajax, conducted out of the American Embassy in Tehran, helped organize a coup d'état to overthrow the Mossadeq government. The operation initially failed, and the Shah fled to Italy, but a second attempt succeeded, and Mosaddeq was imprisoned. Following the coup, the United States helped re-install the Shah. In the first three weeks, the U.S. government gave Iran $68 million in emergency aid, and an additional $1.2 billion over the next decade. Iran was one of the United States' closest allies.
The Shah's brutal secret police kept him in power. A team of five career CIA officers, including specialists in covert operations, intelligence analysis, and counterintelligence, helped to train the Shah's police force, which became known as SAVAK in 1956. The Shah received significant American support during his reign, and frequently made state visits to the White House. The Shah's close ties to Washington and his Modernization policies soon angered some Iranians, especially the hardcore Islamic conservatives.
The U.S. helped Iran create its nuclear program starting in 1957 by providing Iran its first nuclear reactor and nuclear fuel. In 1967 it began providing Iran with weapons grade enriched uranium. This continued until the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the last Shah of Iran.
In the late 1970s, American President Jimmy Carter emphasized human rights in his foreign policy, including the Shah's regime. By 1977 the Shah had attracted criticism in the international community for Iran's human rights record. The Shah responded by granting amnesty to some prisoners and allowing the Red Cross to visit prisons. But anti-Shah Iranians were offended by a New Year's Eve 1978 toast to the Shah in which Carter said "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."
There was disagreement within Carter's cabinet regarding support for the Shah with the Defense Department urging continued support, while the Treasury Department was concerned about the Shah's stability.
The 1979 Revolution ousted the pro-American Shah and replaced him with the anti-American Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The revolution surprised the United States government, its State Department and its intelligence services. 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." Khomeini, who referred to America as the "Great Satan". He got rid of the Shah’s prime minister and replaced him with a moderate politician called Mehdi Bazargan. The Carter Administration still hoped for normal relationships with Iran. The Islamic revolutionaries planed to extradite and execute the deposed Shah. 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 hoping to stabilize relations between the new interim revolutionary government of Iran and the United States. However, President Carter agreed to let the Shah in. This made Iranians suspicious that the Shah was trying to conspire against the Iranian Revolution. This led to the storming of the American embassy by radical students allied with the Khomeini faction.
On November 4, 1979, the revolutionary group Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line occupied the American embassy in Tehran and took American diplomats hostage. 52 American diplomats were held hostage for 444 days. The liberal-moderate interim government of Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, who opposed the hostage taking, resigned soon after. The United States military attempted a rescue operation, Operation Eagle Claw, on April 24, 1980, which resulted in an aborted mission and the deaths of eight American servicemen. The crisis ended with the signing of the Algiers Accords in Algeria on January 19, 1981. On January 20, 1981, the date the treaty was signed, the hostages were released.
Earlier, on April 7, 1980, Carter had severed diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States and they have been frozen ever since. Parts of the former US embassy complex were turned into an anti-American museum, while other parts became offices for student organizations. After the 1979 seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran, the United States froze about $12 billion in Iranian assets, including bank deposits, gold and other properties. Most of those were released in 1981 as part of the deal to release the hostages.
Commercial relations between Iran and the United States are restricted by American sanctions and consist mainly of Iranian purchases of food, spare parts, and medical products as well as American purchases of carpets and food. Sanctions originally imposed in 1995 by President Bill Clinton and continued by President George W. Bush prohibit American companies and their foreign subsidiaries from conducting business with Iran.
During the Iran–Iraq War, the Reagan Administration established diplomatic relations with Saddam Hussein's government, removing it from the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism in 1984. The Iran–Iraq War ended with both agreeing to a ceasefire in 1988. Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Islamist organization and client of Iran, has been involved in several anti-American terrorist attacks, including the April 1983 United States Embassy bombing which killed 17 Americans, the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing which killed 241 US peace keepers in Lebanon, and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing. The April 1983 United States Embassy bombing was carried out with Iranian support.
Further information: Iran–Contra affair
In violation of an arms embargo, officials of President Ronald Reagan's administration arranged to sell armaments to Iran in an attempt to improve relations with Iran 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 Contra rebels attempting to overthrow the left wing government of Nicaragua, in direct violation of the United States Congress' Boland Amendment. In November 1986, Reagan said that the arms sales did not occur. One week later, he confirmed that weapons had been transferred to Iran, but denied that they were part of an exchange for hostages.
In 1988, the United States launched Operation Praying Mantis against Iran, claiming that it was retaliation for the Iranian mining of areas of the Persian Gulf as part of the Iran–Iraq War. The American attack was the largest American naval combat operation since World War II. American action began with coordinated strikes by two surface groups that neutralized the Sassan oil platform and the Sirri oil platform of Iran. Iran lost one major warship and a smaller gunboat. On July 3, 1988, near the end of the Iran–Iraq War, the US Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes shot down Iranian Airbus A300B2, which was on a scheduled commercial flight in Iranian airspace over the Strait of Hormuz. The attack killed 290 civilians from six nations, including 66 children. The United States initially contended that flight 655 was a warplane. Iran refused to accept the American claim of mistaken identification. The United States has expressed regret for the loss of innocent life but refused to apologize to the Iranian government.
In April 1995, a total embargo on dealings with Iran by American companies was imposed by President Bill Clinton. This ended trade, which had been growing following the end of the Iran–Iraq War. In January 1998, newly elected Iranian President Mohammad Khatami called for a dialogue with the United States. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright responded positively, and the American embargo of Iranian carpets and pistachios was ended. But relations then stalled due to opposition from Iranian conservatives
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11 was initially met with sympathy from, many Iranians, who gathered in front of the Swiss embassy and lit candles as a symbol of mourning. After the attacks, both the President and the Supreme Leader of Iran, condemned the attacks. The military forces of the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran cooperated with each other to overthrow Taliban regime. Iran's Quds Force helped US forces and Afghan rebels in 2001 uprising in Herat.
Then, on January 29, 2002, – 4 months after 9/11, US President Bush gave his "Axis of evil" speech, describing Iran, along with North Korea and Iraq, as an axis of evil and warning that the proliferation of long-range missiles developed by these countries constituted terrorism and threatened the United States. The speech caused outrage in Iran and was condemned by both reformists and conservatives. Since 2003, the United States has been flying unmanned aerial vehicles, launched from Iraq, over Iran to obtain intelligence on Iran's nuclear program.
In August 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became Iran's president. On May 8, 2006, he wrote to President Bush to propose an end to Iran's nuclear dispute. This was dismissed as a negotiating ploy and publicity stunt. Bush insisted in August 2006 that "there must be consequences" for Iran's continued enrichment of uranium. Ahmadinejad invited Bush to a debate at the UN General Assembly on September 18, 2006 about Iran's right to enrich uranium. The invitation was rejected. In November 2006, Ahmadinejad wrote an open letter to the American people, stating that dialogue was urgently needed because of American activities in the Middle East and that the United States was concealing the truth about relations. In September 2007, Ahmadinejad addressed the UN General Assembly. Prior to this, he gave a speech at Columbia University. Ahmadinejad answered a query about the treatment of gays in Iran by saying: "We don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country." Ahmadinejad was not permitted to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site. In an April 2008 speech, Ahmadinejad described the September 11 attacks as a "suspect event". In October, he expressed happiness about the 2008 global economic crisis and what he called "collapse of liberalism". He said "The American empire in the world is reaching the end of its road, and its next rulers must limit their interference to their own borders".
Since 2003, the United States had alleged that Iran had a program to develop nuclear weapons. Iran maintained that its nuclear program was aimed only at generating electricity.
In March 2006, the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK), an opposition group closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) killed 24 members of the Iranian security forces. PEJAK is alleged to be supported and coordinated by the United States. In November 2006, journalist Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker wrote that the American military and the Israelis are giving the group equipment, training, and targeting information in order to create internal pressures in Iran.
The United States has escalated its covert operations against Iran. United States Special Operations Forces have reportedly been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since 2007. The operations in Iran involve the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Iran has been accused by the United States of giving weapons and support to the Iraqi insurgency (which includes the terrorist group al-Qaeda). The United States State Department states that weapons are smuggled into Iraq and used to arm Iran's allies among the Shiite militias, including those of the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army.
In 2007, US forces raided the Iranian Consulate General located in Erbil, Iraq and arrested five staff members. At a hearing in Iraq on January 11, 2007, Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that the Bush Administration did not have the authority to send American troops on cross-border raids without congressional authority. On November 9, American forces released two Iranian diplomats after 305 days, as well as seven other Iranian citizens. The officials were captured in the raid, and the others had been picked up in different parts of the country.
Two days after Barack Obama was elected president in November 2008, Ahmadinejad issued a congratulatory message, stating "Iran welcomes basic and fair changes in U.S. policies and conducts. I hope you will prefer real public interests and justice to the never-ending demands of a selfish minority and seize the opportunity to serve people so that you will be remembered with high esteem". Obama responded in his inaugural address, stating, "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West—know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
Ahmadinejad issued a list of grievances, including the 1953 coup, support for Saddam Hussein in the Iran–Iraq War, and the Iran Air Flight 655 incident. On March 19, 2009, Obama spoke directly to the Iranian people in a video saying, "The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations. You have that right—but it comes with real responsibilities".
In April 2009, Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison after being convicting of spying for the United States. She was accused of possessing a classified document but denied the charge. After spending four months in prison, she was released in May. On July 9, 2009, the United States released five Iranian diplomats who had been held since January 2007.
Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri disappeared in May 2009, and Iran accused the United States of abducting him. On the July 13, 2010, the BBC reported that Amiri had taken refuge in the Iranian interests section of Pakistani Embassy in Washington, DC, and sought help to reach Iran. After his return to Iran, he was sentenced to ten years in prison and in August 2016 he was executed for treason.
On 14 July 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) was agreed upon between Iran and a group of world powers: the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, China and Germany and the European Union. The Obama administration agreed to lift sanctions on Iran in return Iran promised to give up their nuclear capabilities and allow workers from the UN to do facility checks whenever they wish. Obama urged US Congress to support the nuclear deal reminding politicians that were wary that if the deal fell through, the US would reinstate their sanctions on Iran. Following the deal, the U.S. supported a UN Security Council resolution that endorsed the JCPA.
During his campaign Donald Trump had denounced the JCPOA as "the worst deal ever negotiated" and a disaster that could lead to a nuclear holocaust. But in April 2017, the Trump administration certified that Iran was in compliance with the JCPOA.
In May 2018, Trump decided to pull out of the JCPA, announcing he would reimpose economic sanctions on Iran effective November 4, 2018. In response, the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said that if needed he would "begin our industrial enrichment without any limitations". On July 5, Iran threatened to close off the Strait of Hormuz if U.S. decided to re-impose oil sanctions on Iran following US withdrawal from the JCPOA. In late July 2018, a large tanker flying a Saudi flag and transporting some 2 million barrels of oil to Egypt was struck in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait near the port of Hodeida by rebels in Yemen, believed to be armed and financed by Iran. The incident made Saudi Arabia halt oil shipments through the strait.
On August 13, 2018, Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned direct talks with U.S. He said, "There will be no war, nor will we negotiate with the US. Even if we ever - impossible as it is - negotiated with the US, it would never ever be with the current US administration."
According to the Economist, by year’s end, though, Iranian oil sales will be at least one million barrels per day below their peak. Oil accounts for almost 70% of Iran's exports and half of government revenue. The economy is already weak. Inflation climbed to 15.9% last month. Strikes and protests are common in the country. Truckers walked off the job in September to complain about rising costs. Teachers staged a sit-in weeks later. The Economist reports that despite the economic turmoil, Iran has not restarted its nuclear work. It has appealed to the deal’s other parties to help it bypass the sanctions. But the threat of losing access to American markets and the American financial system is too risky for European firms. No EU member state is yet willing to cooperate with Iran's proposal.
Debate will continue on whether President Trump's hard-line approach will be more effective than that of President Obama, who wanted a nuclear deal. Secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has a wish-list which wants Iran to halt its nuclear program, stop testing ballistic missiles, withdraw its troops from Syria and abandon regional proxies, such as Lebanon’s Hezbullah. Pompeo wants Iran to change its security doctrine of backing Shia militias. Iran has maintained that position in spite of decades of economic pain.
It remains to be seen whether the current tougher approach will generate the desired results, or it will add to a history of US interference in the region, fostering future generational resentment.
After the first world war, the Persians sought the US financial help, but this plea met with opposition in the IS and the Persians withdrew the request. Relations between Iran and the United States remained friendly and many Iranians saw the US as a "third force" in their struggle to break free of British and Russian dominance in Persian affairs. In 1936, Iran withdrew its ambassador in Washington after the publication of an article criticizing Reza Shah in the New York Daily Herald.[31] The withdrawal lasted for nearly one year.
In 1941 the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran deposed Reza Shah, who was believed to be Axis-sympathizer. The allies wanted a supply route for war material to the USSR. The last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, maintained close ties with the United States during most of his reign, which lasted from 1941 until he was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution in 1979. He pursued a modernizing economic policy, and a pro-American foreign policy. Iran's border with the Soviet Union, and its position as the largest and most powerful country in the oil-rich Persian Gulf, made Iran a valuable ally in the Middle East.
During the Cold War began, the Soviet Union tried to set up separatist states in Iranian Azerbaijan and Kurdistan. In 1952 and 1953, Iranian prime minister Mohammed Mossadeq began nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). Established by the British in the early 20th century, the company shared profits (85% for Britain, and 15% for Iran), but withheld their financial records from the Iranian government. Iranians supported nationalization of the AIOC, and Parliament unanimously agreed to nationalize its holdings. The British retaliated with an embargo on Iranian oil, which was supported by international oil companies. Iran's economy suffered as a result. President Harry Truman pressed Britain to moderate its position. Mosaddeq visited Washington, believing that he had American support for his position, even though the United States honored the British embargo and the CIA station in Tehran carried out covert activities" against Mosaddeq
When Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower replaced Truman, the United States continued to work to destabilize Mosaddeq's government. In spring and summer 1953, the United States and Britain, through a covert CIA operation called Operation Ajax, conducted out of the American Embassy in Tehran, helped organize a coup d'état to overthrow the Mossadeq government. The operation initially failed, and the Shah fled to Italy, but a second attempt succeeded, and Mosaddeq was imprisoned. Following the coup, the United States helped re-install the Shah. In the first three weeks, the U.S. government gave Iran $68 million in emergency aid, and an additional $1.2 billion over the next decade. Iran was one of the United States' closest allies.
The Shah's brutal secret police kept him in power. A team of five career CIA officers, including specialists in covert operations, intelligence analysis, and counterintelligence, helped to train the Shah's police force, which became known as SAVAK in 1956. The Shah received significant American support during his reign, and frequently made state visits to the White House. The Shah's close ties to Washington and his Modernization policies soon angered some Iranians, especially the hardcore Islamic conservatives.
The U.S. helped Iran create its nuclear program starting in 1957 by providing Iran its first nuclear reactor and nuclear fuel. In 1967 it began providing Iran with weapons grade enriched uranium. This continued until the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the last Shah of Iran.
In the late 1970s, American President Jimmy Carter emphasized human rights in his foreign policy, including the Shah's regime. By 1977 the Shah had attracted criticism in the international community for Iran's human rights record. The Shah responded by granting amnesty to some prisoners and allowing the Red Cross to visit prisons. But anti-Shah Iranians were offended by a New Year's Eve 1978 toast to the Shah in which Carter said "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."
There was disagreement within Carter's cabinet regarding support for the Shah with the Defense Department urging continued support, while the Treasury Department was concerned about the Shah's stability.
The 1979 Revolution ousted the pro-American Shah and replaced him with the anti-American Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The revolution surprised the United States government, its State Department and its intelligence services. 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." Khomeini, who referred to America as the "Great Satan". He got rid of the Shah’s prime minister and replaced him with a moderate politician called Mehdi Bazargan. The Carter Administration still hoped for normal relationships with Iran. The Islamic revolutionaries planed to extradite and execute the deposed Shah. 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 hoping to stabilize relations between the new interim revolutionary government of Iran and the United States. However, President Carter agreed to let the Shah in. This made Iranians suspicious that the Shah was trying to conspire against the Iranian Revolution. This led to the storming of the American embassy by radical students allied with the Khomeini faction.
On November 4, 1979, the revolutionary group Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line occupied the American embassy in Tehran and took American diplomats hostage. 52 American diplomats were held hostage for 444 days. The liberal-moderate interim government of Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, who opposed the hostage taking, resigned soon after. The United States military attempted a rescue operation, Operation Eagle Claw, on April 24, 1980, which resulted in an aborted mission and the deaths of eight American servicemen. The crisis ended with the signing of the Algiers Accords in Algeria on January 19, 1981. On January 20, 1981, the date the treaty was signed, the hostages were released.
Earlier, on April 7, 1980, Carter had severed diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States and they have been frozen ever since. Parts of the former US embassy complex were turned into an anti-American museum, while other parts became offices for student organizations. After the 1979 seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran, the United States froze about $12 billion in Iranian assets, including bank deposits, gold and other properties. Most of those were released in 1981 as part of the deal to release the hostages.
Commercial relations between Iran and the United States are restricted by American sanctions and consist mainly of Iranian purchases of food, spare parts, and medical products as well as American purchases of carpets and food. Sanctions originally imposed in 1995 by President Bill Clinton and continued by President George W. Bush prohibit American companies and their foreign subsidiaries from conducting business with Iran.
During the Iran–Iraq War, the Reagan Administration established diplomatic relations with Saddam Hussein's government, removing it from the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism in 1984. The Iran–Iraq War ended with both agreeing to a ceasefire in 1988. Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Islamist organization and client of Iran, has been involved in several anti-American terrorist attacks, including the April 1983 United States Embassy bombing which killed 17 Americans, the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing which killed 241 US peace keepers in Lebanon, and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing. The April 1983 United States Embassy bombing was carried out with Iranian support.
Further information: Iran–Contra affair
In violation of an arms embargo, officials of President Ronald Reagan's administration arranged to sell armaments to Iran in an attempt to improve relations with Iran 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 Contra rebels attempting to overthrow the left wing government of Nicaragua, in direct violation of the United States Congress' Boland Amendment. In November 1986, Reagan said that the arms sales did not occur. One week later, he confirmed that weapons had been transferred to Iran, but denied that they were part of an exchange for hostages.
In 1988, the United States launched Operation Praying Mantis against Iran, claiming that it was retaliation for the Iranian mining of areas of the Persian Gulf as part of the Iran–Iraq War. The American attack was the largest American naval combat operation since World War II. American action began with coordinated strikes by two surface groups that neutralized the Sassan oil platform and the Sirri oil platform of Iran. Iran lost one major warship and a smaller gunboat. On July 3, 1988, near the end of the Iran–Iraq War, the US Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes shot down Iranian Airbus A300B2, which was on a scheduled commercial flight in Iranian airspace over the Strait of Hormuz. The attack killed 290 civilians from six nations, including 66 children. The United States initially contended that flight 655 was a warplane. Iran refused to accept the American claim of mistaken identification. The United States has expressed regret for the loss of innocent life but refused to apologize to the Iranian government.
In April 1995, a total embargo on dealings with Iran by American companies was imposed by President Bill Clinton. This ended trade, which had been growing following the end of the Iran–Iraq War. In January 1998, newly elected Iranian President Mohammad Khatami called for a dialogue with the United States. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright responded positively, and the American embargo of Iranian carpets and pistachios was ended. But relations then stalled due to opposition from Iranian conservatives
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11 was initially met with sympathy from, many Iranians, who gathered in front of the Swiss embassy and lit candles as a symbol of mourning. After the attacks, both the President and the Supreme Leader of Iran, condemned the attacks. The military forces of the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran cooperated with each other to overthrow Taliban regime. Iran's Quds Force helped US forces and Afghan rebels in 2001 uprising in Herat.
Then, on January 29, 2002, – 4 months after 9/11, US President Bush gave his "Axis of evil" speech, describing Iran, along with North Korea and Iraq, as an axis of evil and warning that the proliferation of long-range missiles developed by these countries constituted terrorism and threatened the United States. The speech caused outrage in Iran and was condemned by both reformists and conservatives. Since 2003, the United States has been flying unmanned aerial vehicles, launched from Iraq, over Iran to obtain intelligence on Iran's nuclear program.
In August 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became Iran's president. On May 8, 2006, he wrote to President Bush to propose an end to Iran's nuclear dispute. This was dismissed as a negotiating ploy and publicity stunt. Bush insisted in August 2006 that "there must be consequences" for Iran's continued enrichment of uranium. Ahmadinejad invited Bush to a debate at the UN General Assembly on September 18, 2006 about Iran's right to enrich uranium. The invitation was rejected. In November 2006, Ahmadinejad wrote an open letter to the American people, stating that dialogue was urgently needed because of American activities in the Middle East and that the United States was concealing the truth about relations. In September 2007, Ahmadinejad addressed the UN General Assembly. Prior to this, he gave a speech at Columbia University. Ahmadinejad answered a query about the treatment of gays in Iran by saying: "We don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country." Ahmadinejad was not permitted to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site. In an April 2008 speech, Ahmadinejad described the September 11 attacks as a "suspect event". In October, he expressed happiness about the 2008 global economic crisis and what he called "collapse of liberalism". He said "The American empire in the world is reaching the end of its road, and its next rulers must limit their interference to their own borders".
Since 2003, the United States had alleged that Iran had a program to develop nuclear weapons. Iran maintained that its nuclear program was aimed only at generating electricity.
In March 2006, the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK), an opposition group closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) killed 24 members of the Iranian security forces. PEJAK is alleged to be supported and coordinated by the United States. In November 2006, journalist Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker wrote that the American military and the Israelis are giving the group equipment, training, and targeting information in order to create internal pressures in Iran.
The United States has escalated its covert operations against Iran. United States Special Operations Forces have reportedly been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since 2007. The operations in Iran involve the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Iran has been accused by the United States of giving weapons and support to the Iraqi insurgency (which includes the terrorist group al-Qaeda). The United States State Department states that weapons are smuggled into Iraq and used to arm Iran's allies among the Shiite militias, including those of the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army.
In 2007, US forces raided the Iranian Consulate General located in Erbil, Iraq and arrested five staff members. At a hearing in Iraq on January 11, 2007, Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that the Bush Administration did not have the authority to send American troops on cross-border raids without congressional authority. On November 9, American forces released two Iranian diplomats after 305 days, as well as seven other Iranian citizens. The officials were captured in the raid, and the others had been picked up in different parts of the country.
Two days after Barack Obama was elected president in November 2008, Ahmadinejad issued a congratulatory message, stating "Iran welcomes basic and fair changes in U.S. policies and conducts. I hope you will prefer real public interests and justice to the never-ending demands of a selfish minority and seize the opportunity to serve people so that you will be remembered with high esteem". Obama responded in his inaugural address, stating, "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West—know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
Ahmadinejad issued a list of grievances, including the 1953 coup, support for Saddam Hussein in the Iran–Iraq War, and the Iran Air Flight 655 incident. On March 19, 2009, Obama spoke directly to the Iranian people in a video saying, "The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations. You have that right—but it comes with real responsibilities".
In April 2009, Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison after being convicting of spying for the United States. She was accused of possessing a classified document but denied the charge. After spending four months in prison, she was released in May. On July 9, 2009, the United States released five Iranian diplomats who had been held since January 2007.
Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri disappeared in May 2009, and Iran accused the United States of abducting him. On the July 13, 2010, the BBC reported that Amiri had taken refuge in the Iranian interests section of Pakistani Embassy in Washington, DC, and sought help to reach Iran. After his return to Iran, he was sentenced to ten years in prison and in August 2016 he was executed for treason.
On 14 July 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) was agreed upon between Iran and a group of world powers: the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, China and Germany and the European Union. The Obama administration agreed to lift sanctions on Iran in return Iran promised to give up their nuclear capabilities and allow workers from the UN to do facility checks whenever they wish. Obama urged US Congress to support the nuclear deal reminding politicians that were wary that if the deal fell through, the US would reinstate their sanctions on Iran. Following the deal, the U.S. supported a UN Security Council resolution that endorsed the JCPA.
During his campaign Donald Trump had denounced the JCPOA as "the worst deal ever negotiated" and a disaster that could lead to a nuclear holocaust. But in April 2017, the Trump administration certified that Iran was in compliance with the JCPOA.
In May 2018, Trump decided to pull out of the JCPA, announcing he would reimpose economic sanctions on Iran effective November 4, 2018. In response, the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said that if needed he would "begin our industrial enrichment without any limitations". On July 5, Iran threatened to close off the Strait of Hormuz if U.S. decided to re-impose oil sanctions on Iran following US withdrawal from the JCPOA. In late July 2018, a large tanker flying a Saudi flag and transporting some 2 million barrels of oil to Egypt was struck in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait near the port of Hodeida by rebels in Yemen, believed to be armed and financed by Iran. The incident made Saudi Arabia halt oil shipments through the strait.
On August 13, 2018, Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned direct talks with U.S. He said, "There will be no war, nor will we negotiate with the US. Even if we ever - impossible as it is - negotiated with the US, it would never ever be with the current US administration."
According to the Economist, by year’s end, though, Iranian oil sales will be at least one million barrels per day below their peak. Oil accounts for almost 70% of Iran's exports and half of government revenue. The economy is already weak. Inflation climbed to 15.9% last month. Strikes and protests are common in the country. Truckers walked off the job in September to complain about rising costs. Teachers staged a sit-in weeks later. The Economist reports that despite the economic turmoil, Iran has not restarted its nuclear work. It has appealed to the deal’s other parties to help it bypass the sanctions. But the threat of losing access to American markets and the American financial system is too risky for European firms. No EU member state is yet willing to cooperate with Iran's proposal.
Debate will continue on whether President Trump's hard-line approach will be more effective than that of President Obama, who wanted a nuclear deal. Secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has a wish-list which wants Iran to halt its nuclear program, stop testing ballistic missiles, withdraw its troops from Syria and abandon regional proxies, such as Lebanon’s Hezbullah. Pompeo wants Iran to change its security doctrine of backing Shia militias. Iran has maintained that position in spite of decades of economic pain.
It remains to be seen whether the current tougher approach will generate the desired results, or it will add to a history of US interference in the region, fostering future generational resentment.