History of US-Iran conflict

History of US-Iran conflict

The United states and Iran are again at each other's throats, and the world is watching this fight with a mix of surprise and fear. Countries that want healthy relations with both sides are dreadfully confused on how to react, because they fear the wrath of the Giant super power, if they showed any sympathy towards Iran. The most asked question, especially by the younger generation is, where did it all start? This and many other such questions can only be answered by looking back at the history of these two countries with each other, and that is what we will do today in this article.

courtesy: Google

Start of US-Iran tensions

In 1951, Musaddegh became the prime minister of Iran. There was an Anglo-Iran deal made in 1914, according to which Iran had only 51% share in its own oil. Mussadegh wanted that deal gone and wanted all the money that came from their oil to stay in Iran. This thought was not welcomed by the west, and as a result, Mussadegh made some very powerful enemies. CIA and MI6 orchestrated a successful coup against him and he was forced to leave the country. The power came back in the Hands of the Shah of Iran, who was seen to be a pro-western ruler at that time. He introduced a lot of liberal reforms, which boosted Iran's economy with a great pace.  Some of his reforms, for example those related to the women rights, were too liberal for the conservatives living in Iran. He called it the "White revolution". By 1978, Shah became very stronger and same was the case with the Iranian economy, but him being too powerful, made some very powerful people in the west seemingly upset. It was then when Ayatullah Khumaini, then living in exile, started sending taps to his conservative supporters, telling them to standup for an Islamic revolution. It soon became a very powerful uprising and Shah called his friends in the west for help, but no one came to his rescue. He was forced to leave Iran in the January of 1979. The following month Khumaini came back to Iran after spending 14 years in exile to become the new leader of Iran.

US-Iran conflict after the Islamic Revolution

This soon turned out to be the start of a new era of US-Iran conflict. In November of 1979 the Islamic militants of Iran stormed the American embassy and took 52 US citizens hostages, this marked a new historic low in the relations between the two states. 

Then came the Gulf war between Iran and Iraq in which the US openly sided with Iraq. From 1980, when this war started around 1.6 million precious lives were lost on both sides, until it finally ended in 1988. This worsened the US-Iran conflict many folds. Meanwhile, in 1981 when Regan was elected president, the 52 US hostages were released by Iran.

In 1988, the US shot down Iranian Air bus killing 290 people onboard, including 66 children. This made Iran more hostile towards the US. The US called it an accident, which to Iran, was not an acceptable explanation at all. Iran did not take any revenge but this widened the void of hostility between the two countries. This environment of hostility continued for the years to come. In 1995, President Clinton imposed sanctions on Iran limiting its trade. In January 2002, President Bush called Iran "the axis of evil", which shows that the US-Iran rift was far from being over even in the 21st Century; from 2006 to 2010, the US imposed four rounds of sanctions against Iran. This hit the Iranian Economy where it hurt the most; and consequently, in 2012, Iranian currency lost a whopping 80% of its value since 2011. 

In July 2015, President Obama struck a historic nuclear deal with Iran also known as JCPOA, according to which Iran was to receive 150 billion US Dollars in which 1.8 billion were paid in cash. Iran's end of the deal was to limit its Uranium enrichment to the agreed levels of safe use. This was seen as a big leap forward in US-Iran relations, but this warmth in ties between the two could not stand the chilly winds that blew once Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. 

Iran and the Trump administration 

US-Iran relations can be described as a complete nightmare after Trump has been elected into the Oval office. Trump had promised during his campaign that, if elected, he would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. He delivered on his promise on May 8th 2018 by pulling the US out of the Nuclear deal. Trump has turned out to be the most anti-Iran president in recent history. On August 07, 2018, he imposed new sanctions against Iran further weakening the already beleaguered economy of the Islamic republic. Iran in response said it will not hold its end of the bargain and will start working on its nuclear program again. In July 2019 Iran confirmed that it has surpassed the allowable limit of the stockpile of enriched Uranium. This further complicated the situation and thus worsening the relations between the two states even further.

In the last week of December, the situation started to slip out of hands when a US defense contractor was killed in Iraq. The US blamed Iran backed Militia for it and killed 25 people in an attack on one such militia. The same week some violent protesters stormed the US embassy in Baghdad which was again blamed on Iran. This prompted an unprecedented retaliation from the US when it killed a senior General of the Iranian forces and the head of Al-Quds guards, General Qassim Soleimani. General Soleimani was seen as a very patriotic figure in Iran and was said to be the second most popular person in the country after the supreme leader of Iran. This escalated the situation to a very dangerous point; Iran threatened the US of serious consequences. They attacked US bases in Iraq with missiles but fortunately for the US, there were no casualties. President Trump, on January 08, slapped more sanctions on Iran and said the US want peace with Iran but Iran will have to reciprocate the gesture.
Now, when these lines are being written, the world is anxiously waiting for this escalation to end, as some analysts fear something similar to World War 3, if the situation is not neutralised. What will happen next is the question on everyone's mind but we will have to wait and see to find the answer.