History of Iran-US relations

Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilisations dating from as far back as 4,000 BC. The Iranian Medes unified Iran into a kingdom in 625 BC. They were succeeded by three Iranian empires, the Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanids which governed Iran for over a thousand years. This was followed by a period of foreign occupation and short lived native dynasties that lasted for centuries. However, it was once again re-unified as an independent state in 1501 by the Safavid dynasty. The Safavid dynasty promoted Twelver Shi'a Islam as the official religion, this was a monumental turning point in the history of Islam. Iran was a monarchy ruled by a Shah almost without interruption from 1501 until the 1979 when Iran officially became an Islamic republic on 1 April 1979. Iran suffered several wars with Imperial Russia during the Qajar era, resulting in Iran losing over half its territories to Russia and Britain. However, in spite of the Great Game, Iran managed to remain sovereign and was never colonised.

In 1925, Reza Khan overthrew the Qajar dynasty and became Shah, he introduced progressive policies of industrialisation, railroad construction and the establishment of a national education system. He sought to balance Russian and British influence in Iran, but during World War Two, alarmed at Iran's growing ties with Germany, both Russia and Britain invaded, forcing the Shah to abdicate in favour of his son, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. In 1951, Mohammed Mossadegh was elected Prime Minister, he became popular after he nationalised Iran's oil reserves. In response, Britain placed an embargo on Iranian oil and collaborated with the United States to depose Mossadegh. The operation was successful, Mossadegh was arrested and the Shah's rule became increasingly autocratic. With American support, the Shah was able to rapidly modernise the Iranian infrastructure but he crushed all forms of political opposition.

The Iranian Revolution, also known as the Islamic Revolution began in January 1978 with public demonstrations against the Shah resulting in his fleeing the country in January 1979. In December 1979, a theocratic constitution was approved by the country whereby the Ayatollah Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein decided to take advantage of the disorder that he perceived in Iran following the takeover coupled with the negative attitudes that Western governments now viewed Iran with. On 22 September 1980, the Iraqi army invaded at Khuzetan, thus starting the Iran-Iraq war. Iraq initially steam-rolled the Iranian forces but by 1982, Iran turned the tide and managed to force the Iraqis back into Iraq. The war dragged on until 1988, when a truce was accepted that was mediated by the UN.

History of Iran-US relations by aljazeeraenglish