Iran (which was known as Persia until 1935) experienced a revolution in 1979, when the ruling Shah was forced into exile and Islam was introduced as a form of government. At this time, Iran’s new rulers began to support militant allies around the world.
Relations between the U.S. and Iran became strained when a group of Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy and its occupants in the capital city of Tehran in November 1979. On April 7, 1980, the U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Iran. The 52 hostages were released on January 20, 1981, after 444 days in captivity.
Between 1980 and 1988, Iran and Iraq fought a war over territory that caused massive casualties on both sides and included some clashes between the U.S. Navy and Iranian military forces in the Persian Gulf.
In the 1990s, a movement toward some political reforms began, but momentum shifted toward more conservative politics in the 2000s. This culminated in the inauguration of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President in 2005. His controversial reelection in June 2009 was considered neither free nor fair by most observers and sparked a national uprising over allegations of electoral fraud.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians—young and old—took to the streets throughout the country. The spontaneous mobilization quickly crystallized into the Green Movement. This led to the arrest and subsequent trials of more than one hundred Iranian thinkers, intellectuals, and activists. Despite the crackdown, the new opposition movement maintained momentum in sporadic protests and acts of civil disobedience, often led by Iranian youth, who made active use of new technologies, including social media platforms.
In June of 2013, Hassan Rouhani was elected to the presidency. The beginning of Rouhani's tenure has been marked by greater engagement with the international community, and Rouhani has pledged to resolve the nuclear dispute, improve Iran’s relations with the outside world, revitalize the economy, and encourage a more open society. Many observers have acknowledged that one of the most important questions in the Middle East is whether Rouhani's election will mark a new era.
The U.S. government historically, by executive orders issued by the President and by congressional legislation, has prohibited nearly all trade with Iran. Sanctions have been imposed on Iran because of its sponsorship of terrorism, nuclear weapons ambitions, and human rights violations.
However, in April 2015, Iran signed a historic nuclear agreement with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany to limit its nuclear activities for at least a decade in exchange for an end to international economic sanctions. The end-date for the talks is June 31, and a lot remains to be negotiated between now and then. But if a formal deal is signed this summer, Iran will get relief from punitive sanctions and begin to reintegrate itself into the international community. The nuclear agreement has been widely welcomed by the Iranian people, and the agreement is the first step in eliminating hurdles in foreign relations.
