Isabella Taylor
I know that you’ve all heard about the conflict in the Middle East, specifically between Israel and Iran. Throughout my time on Instagram Reels and in passing conversations, I’ve heard tidbits, but I’m not as well-versed as I’d like to be about the issue. If you’re like me, you don’t have any time to get caught up with the current news unless it’s in a history classroom. So I’ve made an objective, as objective as I can get–a timeline of what has really been happening.
This isn’t a provocative article, merely a way for me to research and learn what’s been happening in Iran.
My information is from Britannica.com, weforum.org, and The Council on Foreign Relations.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations in 1953, the “U.S. and British intelligence agencies” assisted the Iranian military in overthrowing Iran’s prime minister, Mohammed Mossadeq. The new shah, Pahlavi, was extremely unpopular among the Iranian population, and “[relied] on U.S. support to remain in power until his overthrow in 1979.”
Now, Iran is one of the top oil producers in the world, so the U.S. would of course have some relations with Iran in the industry. As of 2025, Iran has about 208 billion barrels of crude oil, whereas Venezuela, which has the biggest reserve, has more than 303 billion barrels.
Because of this oil, in 1954 Pahlavi signed the Consortium Agreement, which gave U.S., British, and French oil companies 40% ownership of the nationalized oil industry (Anglo-Persian Oil Company) for 25 years.
For about 20 years, Iran and the U.S. were peaceful, aside from a bit of worry regarding the amount of non-nuclear weapons Iran was buying from the U.S. during Nixon’s Presidency. In 1979, the Iranian Revolution turned Iran from “a pro-West monarchy to a vehemently anti-West Islamic theocracy.” The new supreme leader, Khomeini, claims that Iran will “try to “export” its revolution to its neighbors,” implying military force and coercion to its neighboring countries.
In response to Khomeini’s claims and leadership, a militant group called “Hezbollah” took root in Lebanon and pledged its allegiance to the supreme leader.
At this point, the U.S. and Iran are no longer in a time of peace, especially with the Iran Hostage Crisis from November 1979 to January 1981. The Hostage Crisis was when a group of “Iranian college students [took] 52 Americans hostage at the U.S embassy in Tehran, demanding that the United States extradite that shah,” or hand him over from a state that is hiding from punishment in a foreign state.
In 1980, Iraq invaded its neighbors and Iran, in fear of a revolt against their leader, Saddam Hussein. The U.S. and Britain supported Iraq’s invasion, supplying “economic aid, training, and dual-use technology.”
Soon afterward, the Iran-Contra Affair occurred, where Reagan’s administration secretly sold weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon during a trade embargo in order to safely rescue American hostages (stolen by Hezbollah).
After Operation Praying Mantis and the Persian Gulf War, the U.S. no longer helped Iraq and was worried that Iran was planning to become the “dominant power in the region.” IN response, the U.S. intensified its sanctions regarding Iran. “Under the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations,” the Iran-Iraq Arms Nonproliferation Act, and the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act was passed. These limited Iran and Iraq’s ability to produce advanced weaponry, and imposed an embargo against “non-American companies investing more than $20 million per year in Iran’s oil and gas sectors.”
In 1998, the U.S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with Iran and acknowledged the previous policy towards Iran as “regretably shortsighted.” A couple of sanctions against Iran were then lifted, specifically those that had to do with nuts, caviar, and pharmaceuticals.
In 2001, after 9/11, Bush’s administration established a channel with Iran to coordinate the defeat of the Taliban. Bush then regarded Iran as “an axis of evil” in his 2002 State of the Union address. In 2003, the Iraq war began because of the fear of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq under Hussein’s control. The U.S. finally toppled Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq, but a “U.S. Army study on the Iraq War concludes that “an emboldened and expansionist Iran appears to be the only victor” in the conflict.”
In 2013, President Barack Obama relieved some of the sanctions restricting Iran’s nuclear program. In 2015, the European Union reached an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, that would slowly allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
In 2018, President Donald Trump pulled out of JCPOA, and called for a sanction campaign to place “maximum pressure” on Iran. This boosted Iranian nuclear progress in backlash to the campaign.
In 2020, the U.S. killed Qasem Soleimani, a military official in Iran, and Iran responded by stating it would not “commit to restrictions under the nuclear deal.” Iran then mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian plane while wary of U.S. attacks, and then Iran attacked multiple U.S. bases in Iraq.
In 2022, many women-led protestors in Iran called for an end to the Islamic Revolution, and Iran expands their anti-Israel campaign towards its “first-ever direct Iranian attacks on Israel.” The U.S. then began backing Israel with military and intelligence against Iran.
In 2025, “Israel strike[d] Iran in a surprise attack with the aim of damaging its nuclear facilities.” President Trump then decided to enact an overnight attack on Iran that hit three of Iran’s atomic centers.
Now, we’re getting pretty caught up with the recent events I’ve heard of, and a lot of what’s been going on is making sense with all of the deep history between Iran and the U.S.. In 2026, there were even more protestors in Iran due to the currency collapse and the continuing effects of the Islamic revolution.
Throughout all of this, it’s important to think about formulating your own opinion about foreign affairs. Remember to keep your mind open to new facts and information, and to never turn down a healthy debate.