Iran–United States Relations After 1979

Iran–United States Relations After 1979

This article is about the current international tensions between Iran and other countries, especially the United States and Israel.

Since the Iranian revolution of 1979, Iran has had some difficult relations with Western countries, especially the United States. Iran has been under constant US unilateral sanctions, which were tightened under the presidency of Bill Clinton.

Iran has had a civilian nuclear program since before the 1979 revolution. However, since the revolution, there has been some worries that Iran could use this program to develop nuclear weapons. These worries have been raised by the revelation, on August 2002, by Alireza Jafarzadeh, a prominent associate of MKO, of the existence of two secret nuclear sites: a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz (part of which is underground), and a heavy water facility in Arak. There is however no proof at this stage that this program is not purely civilian.

At the same time, Iran has been accused by the United States of supporting extremist Islamic movements in the Middle East, and supplying militias in Iraq. Iran has also directed strong rhetoric towards Israel, including questioning the legitimacy of its existence.

Because of these factors, tensions between some states and Iran has degenerated into what some politicians, like Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy or journalists call an "international crisis", up the point where the United States and Israel have refused to exclude the use of force to stop the Iranian nuclear program, although they have always stressed that they consider the use of force as a last resort.