Timeline: See how 70 years of history led to the U.S. bombing in Iran
The bellicose saga between Iran and the United States goes back seven decades and 13 presidents, a relationship that broke down after the people of Iran rose up against a regime the United States helped install in 1953.
While President Donald Trump's decision to bomb the country's nuclear sites has Americans on edge, the United States has a long history of punishing Iran's government, most often through economic sanctions.
At the center of it all is the state of Israel, the United States' key ally in the region − one that consistently finds itself at war with Iran or with the Islamic extremist groups that are proxies for Iran's interests.
Some key moments in the relationship between the United States and Iran.
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1953: Coup d’état | The United States and United Kingdom back a coup in what is then called the Imperial State of Iran. The aim is to stop the Iranian parliament’s attempt to nationalize the country’s lucrative oil industry. The prime minister is replaced, and the autocratic monarch Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, known as the shah, increases his power.
1957: Atoms for Peace | President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Iran sign an agreement allowing the developing country to participate in the “Atoms for Peace” program. The United States provides materials and training to Iran and essentially kicks off its modern nuclear program.
1978-1979: Iranian Revolution | After Pahlavi attempts to remove Ruhollah Khomeini, a high-ranking religious leader known as an ayatollah, Iranians grow fed up with the shah’s massive power. The people stage a revolution to end the same monarchy the United States had strengthened. A constitution for the Islamic Republic of Iran is established, and Khomeini becomes supreme leader, a religious-political position more powerful than the role of president. The new regime is markedly anti-Israel, a stance that contributes to 50 years of tense U.S.-Iran relations.
1979-1981: Iran hostage crisis | Pahlavi is in exile, but President Jimmy Carter allows him to come to New York for cancer treatment. As retaliation, Iranian militants take over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and take hostages. Carter issues a series of sanctions that freeze billions of dollars in Iranian government assets and block trade between the two countries. More than 50 people are held for more than 400 days and finally released just after Carter leaves office.
1980-88: Iran-Iraq War | Iraq invades Iran, and the United States, under President Ronald Reagan, eventually sides with Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein. The war lasts for eight years, and hundreds of thousands of people die. More than a decade after the war ends, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will call the United States’ policies “regrettably shortsighted.”
1984: State sponsor of terrorism | The U.S. State Department declares Iran a state sponsor of terrorism and imposes new sanctions. The designation continues until this day.
1989: A new supreme leader | Ali Khamenei succeeds Khomeini as supreme leader of Iran. Now in his 80s, Khamenei has stayed in the position for nearly 36 years.
1992-1997: More sanctions | Congress passes laws and President Bill Clinton signs executive orders that sanction Iran. The policies begin with attempts to stop the country from getting chemical or nuclear weapons, crippling its oil industry, and harming its general economy. They culminate with a near-embargo on goods and services traded between the United States and Iran.
2002: Axis of Evil | President George W. Bush, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, identifies three countries − Iran, Iraq and North Korea − as an “Axis of Evil” that threaten American security. “Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom,” Bush says. Later that year, the world learns Iran has been enriching uranium, a key step toward building a nuclear bomb.
2007-2010: Stuxnet | The Bush administration deploys a cyber weapon called Stuxnet that sabotages the computers Iran uses in its nuclear program while making users believe everything is running as usual. The public learns about the program, built in conjunction with Israel, in 2010, after President Barack Obama’s administration also uses it.
2011-2013: Obama-era sanctions | President Barack Obama issues a series of sanctions designed to harm Iran’s ability to move money around the international banking system and profit from its oil industry.
2013: Preliminary nuclear deal | Obama announces a temporary deal between U.S., its allies, and Iran. The deal requires Iran to limit its nuclear program for six months in exchange for reducing sanctions that have been harming the country’s economy.
2015: Final nuclear deal | Obama − along with leaders of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the European Union − reaches a deal with Iran to place significant restrictions on its nuclear program. The terms include limits on enriched uranium, and inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. While defending the deal from critics, Obama says the only other alternative is war.
2016: Sanctions end | Obama signs an executive order revoking sanctions against Iran that were originally designed as consequences for its nuclear weapons program. The order says there has been a “fundamental shift in circumstances with respect to Iran's nuclear program.”
2017: Axis of Evil 2.0 | Fifteen years after Bush, President Donald Trump identifies a new “Axis of Evil” that includes Iran, North Korea and Venezuela.
2018: Trump reverses course | Trump withdraws the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and renews sanctions on Iran. The administration says the campaign, called “maximum pressure,” devastates Iran’s economy and oil revenue.
2020: Soleimani assassination | Trump orders a drone strike in Iraq that assassinates Qasem Soleimani, an influential Iranian military commander. Iran threatens revenge, and international experts and policymakers warn that the United States may have started an unwinnable war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praises Trump for “acting swiftly, forcefully, decisively” and says Israel stands with the United States in its “just struggle for peace, security and self-defense.”
2022: Jerusalem Declaration | President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid meet in Jerusalem to sign a declaration reaffirming the “unshakeable” alliance between the two countries. “The United States stresses that integral to this pledge is the commitment never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that it is prepared to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome,” the pledge says.
2023-2024: Tensions rise | Israel goes to war in Gaza after a brutal terrorist attack by Hamas that galvanizes the nation. The Iran-backed militant Houthis in Yemen attack ships in the Red Sea. The conflict expands when Israel conducts a first-of-its-kind attack on Iran-backed Hezbollah, detonating explosives hidden inside militants' handheld communication devices. The following month, Iran fires nearly 200 missiles at Israel, which intercepts most of them but promises revenge.
March 2025: U.S. takes on Houthi rebels | In March, the United States bombs the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, a now-notorious attack that officials discussed it on Signal.
June 2025: Israel-Iran war | Israel launches airstrikes on Iran, killing top military leaders and damaging nuclear technology. Iran counters with its own missile attacks on Israel. The United States bombs Iran's nuclear facilities days later. The Western intervention escalates the war and stokes fears of a wider global conflict.
Contributing: Shawn J. Sullivan
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