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U.S.-Iran relations

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Students demonstrating against the Shah of Iran, Washington, DC, 1979.
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Indifferent to the Fate of Freedom Elsewhere

Jimmy Carter is known for his defense of human rights worldwide. But in 1979, he threatened to deport thousands of Iranian student protesters.
by Will Teague via HNN on March 11, 2025
President George W. Bush delivering the first State of the Union speech after the 9/11 attacks.

The Legacy of the ‘Axis of Evil’

One speech permanently influenced American diplomacy—and not for the better.
by Kourosh Ziabari via The American Conservative on December 20, 2024
Jimmy Carter and Shah Pahlavi.

The US’s Long History of Destabilizing Iran

Kamala Harris called Iran a “destabilizing, dangerous force.” The appropriate context for this is the US’s own decades-long history of destabilizing Iran.
by Seraj Assi via Jacobin on October 9, 2024
Soldiers honoring Robert Imbrie's casket in Washington, D.C. on September 29, 1924.

A Century Ago, a Mob Brutally Attacked an American Diplomat in Persia

The July 1924 killing of Robert Imbrie fueled the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty and set the stage for a CIA-backed 1953 coup and the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.
by Francine Uenuma via Smithsonian on September 5, 2024
Iranian demonstrator dressed as Uncle Sam.
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The Secret C.I.A. Operation That Haunts U.S.-Iran Relations

A 1953 C.I.A.-backed coup that ousted Iran’s Cold War leader has colored U.S.-Iran relations for decades.
via Retro Report on September 28, 2023
Image from book cover of "Petroleum and Progress in Iran."

There Will Be War

U.S.-Iranian relations, the interrelationship between Iranian development and the global oil market, and the future of economic warfare.
by Michael Brenes, Gregory Brew via Warfare And Welfare on February 1, 2023

We Used to Run This Country

Iran and surplus imperialism.
by Richard Beck via n+1 on June 22, 2020
Woman taking a photo with Iranian flags behind her. She is a demonstrator protesting a disputed election wearing a headband in support of the Green Movement. Tehran, June 15, 2009.

How the US Repeatedly Failed to Support Reform Movements in Iran

A scholar of social movements in Iran asks why the US has consistently failed to support that country's activist reform movements.
by Pardis Mahdavi via The Conversation on February 5, 2020

The United States Overthrew Iran’s Last Democratic Leader

Archival records make clear that the U.S. government was the key actor in the 1953 coup that ousted Mohammad Mosaddeq—not the Iranian clergy.
by Roham Alvandi via Foreign Policy on October 30, 2019
Iranian woman, dressed in black, walking past mural reading "Down With USA."

Iran and America: A Forgotten Friendship

As President Trump’s rhetoric against Iran heats up, it's worth recalling a time when the two countries had a different relationship.
by Daniel Thomas Potts via The Conversation on July 31, 2018

Jimmy Carter Toasts the Shah

The Shah’s reign witnessed years of oppression against the Iranian people, and Carter’s toast added fuel to the fire.
via Voices & Visions on December 31, 1977
Vladimir Putin's eyes revealed from behind torn paper.

How America Wasted Its Most Powerful Economic Weapon

If world leaders had been clearer about the sanctions Putin would face, they might have deterred his invasion of Ukraine.
by Edward Fishman via The Atlantic on February 24, 2025
Iranian leaders.

Who Benefits From Sanctions?

According to authors of a new book on how Iran has coped with economic sanctions imposed by the U.S., no one does.
by Zep Kalb via Phenomenal World on August 15, 2024
President Eisenhower sitting beside President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, September 26, 1960

The Foreign Policy Mistake the U.S. Keeps Repeating in the Middle East

In 2024, the U.S. faces some of the same challenges in the region that it did in 1954.
by Jordan Michael Smith via The New Republic on August 2, 2024

America Is a Root Cause of Israel and Palestine’s Latest War

How 30 years of U.S. policy ended in disaster.
by Stephen Walt via Foreign Policy on October 18, 2023
Iranian hostages exiting a plane with a sign that reads "Welcome back to freedom."

It’s All But Settled: The Reagan Campaign Delayed the Release of the Iranian Hostages

Suspicions have long swirled around unscrupulous campaign manager William Casey. We believe the evidence is now overwhelming.
by Stuart E. Eizenstat, Jonathan Alter, Kai Bird, Gary Sick via The New Republic on May 3, 2023

Why It Took Congress 40 Years to Pass a Bill Acknowledging the Armenian Genocide

It has little to do with what happened in 1915, and everything to do with Cold War-era geopolitics in the Middle East.
by Eldad Ben Aharon via The Conversation on March 6, 2020
Man reading paper about gas rationing in front of a sign that reads "sorry no gasoline."
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1973 – The Year That Changed Everything

The story of the oil shocks of 1973 and how they continue to shape the world we live in today.
via BackStory on January 9, 2015
Sign along empty road reading "Private Road No Entry" in Hebrew and English.

How Israel Deceived the U.S. and Built the Bomb

Newly declassified documents reveal how Israel operated under the noses of U.S. inspectors.
by William Burr, Avner Cohen via Foreign Policy on February 7, 2025
Collage of Jimmy Carter reading documents, and excerpts of documents he notated.

Jimmy Carter: A Declassified Obituary

Highest-level national security documents reveal a tough-minded, detail-oriented president.
by Malcolm Byrne, Autumn Kladder via National Security Archive on December 29, 2024

“All the Consent That’s Fit to Manufacture”

An interrogation of The New York Times’ archive reveals a sordid record of support for American wars, right-wing dictatorships and U.S.-backed regime-change.
by Writers Against the War on Gaza via The New York War Crimes on November 29, 2023
Redacted declassified Top Secret memorandum written by Oliver North on Jack Terrel, terrorist suspect.

Iran-Contra and Domestic Counter-Intelligence Networks

Oliver North and his cronies in the Contra support operations put in motion a clandestine counter-intelligence apparatus to disrupt the flow of information.
by Edmund Berger via Reciprocal Contradiction on May 19, 2021
Profiles of four people in background with a hand holding a military gun in the foreground

This Soldier’s Witness to the Iraq War Lie

A U.S. intelligence officer reflects on the moral corruption of an open-ended occupation.
by Frederic Wehrey via New York Review of Books on September 15, 2020

The Intelligence Coup of the Century

For decades, the CIA read the encrypted communications of allies and adversaries.
by Greg Miller via Washington Post on February 11, 2020

How Carter's '80 SOTU Unleashed America's 'World Police'

Forty years ago he announced a new American doctrine of aggressive Middle East interventionism that never went away.
by Edward D. Change via The American Conservative on February 4, 2020

Ronald Reagan’s “October Surprise” Plot Was Real After All

A batch of quietly released documents confirms what many have long suspected.
by Branko Marcetic via Jacobin on January 21, 2020

Assassination as Cure: Disease Metaphors and Foreign Policy

The poorly crafted disease metaphor often accompanies a bad outcome.
by Sarah Swedberg via Nursing Clio on January 13, 2020

They Wanted to Remake the World; Instead We Got President Trump

Andrew Bacevich makes the case that America’s elites wasted the promise of the post-Cold War era.
by Beverly Gage via Washington Post on January 10, 2020

Rambo Politics from Reagan to Trump

Trump links the assassination of Iranian General Soleimani to the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, positioning himself as Rambo, avenging American humiliation abroad.
by Bonnie Honig via Boston Review on January 6, 2020

Why Are We in the Middle East?

America’s devotion to the Middle East did not make much sense in 2003, Bacevich argues; but it did in 1980, and the reason was oil.
by Richard Beck via n+1 on July 29, 2016

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