President Donald Trump cited the hostile and sometimes bloody history between the two countries dating back to 1979 in an eight-minute video laying out the reasons for the U.S. attack on Iran.
President Trump said on February 28: “For 47 years, the Iranian regime has cried ‘Death to America’ and waged a never-ending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder, targeting America, our military, and innocent people in many other countries.”
US involvement in Iran began in 1953, when the US and UK supported a coup and regime change, installing a leader that Iranians overthrew 26 years later.
Despite its controversial history, President Trump’s decision to attack Iran represents a significant escalation from the actions of previous US presidents.
Now let’s look at what happened between the US, Iran, and Israel, which launched the attack in the first place and where the US also joined.
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Key moments in US-Iranian relations
1953: Coup |The United States and Britain supported the coup in what was then known as the Iranian Empire. The aim is to thwart attempts by Iran’s parliament to nationalize its lucrative oil industry. The prime minister is replaced and the autocratic monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, known as the Shah, consolidates his power.
1957: Atoms for Peace |President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Iran signed an agreement allowing developing countries to participate in the Atoms for Peace program. The United States has provided Iran with supplies and training, effectively starting a modern nuclear program.
1978-1979: Iranian Revolution |After President Pahlavi tried to remove Ruhollah Khomeini, a senior religious leader known as the Ayatollah, Iranians began to grow weary of the Shah’s overwhelming power. The people will start a revolution to end the same monarchy that the United States has reinforced. The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran is established, making Khomeini the supreme leader, a religio-political position more powerful than the role of president. The new administration is deeply anti-Israel, and this attitude has contributed to five decades of tension between the United States and Iran.
1979-1981: Iran Hostage Crisis Pahlavi is in exile, but President Jimmy Carter has allowed him to come to New York for cancer treatment. In retaliation, Iranian extremists seized the US embassy in Tehran and took hostages. President Carter has frozen billions of dollars in Iranian government assets and imposed a series of sanctions blocking trade between the two countries. More than 50 people were detained for more than 400 days and were only released shortly after Carter left office.
1980-88: Iran-Iraq War |Iraq invades Iran, and the United States, led by President Ronald Reagan, ends up siding with Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein. The war lasted eight years and killed hundreds of thousands of people. More than a decade after the war ended, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright would call U.S. policy “unfortunately short-sighted.”
1984: State Sponsor of Terrorism |The US State Department has designated Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism and has imposed new sanctions. This designation has continued to this day.
1989: New Supreme Leader |Ali Khamenei will succeed Khomeini as supreme leader of Iran. Khamenei, now in his 80s, has held the post for nearly 36 years.
1992-1997: Further sanctions |Congress passed the law and President Bill Clinton signed an executive order imposing sanctions on Iran. The policy begins with an attempt to prevent the country from acquiring chemical and nuclear weapons, which would wreak havoc on its oil industry and negatively impact the overall economy. They culminate in a near embargo on goods and services traded between the United States and Iran.
2002: Axis of Evil |Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush designated Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as an “axis of evil” that threatened American security. “Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected minority stifles the Iranian people’s hopes for freedom,” Bush said. Later that year, the world learned that Iran was enriching uranium, a key step toward building a nuclear bomb.
2007-2010: Stuxnet |The Bush administration has deployed a cyberweapon called Stuxnet to jam computers used by Iran in its nuclear program and trick users into believing everything is running as usual. The public became aware of the program, which was created in collaboration with Israel, in 2010 after President Barack Obama’s administration also used the program.
2011-2013: Sanctions during the Obama administration |President Barack Obama has imposed a series of sanctions aimed at crippling Iran’s ability to move money within the international banking system and profit from its oil industry.
2013: Interim nuclear agreement |President Obama announces interim agreement between the United States and its ally Iran. The deal calls for six months of restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions that have hurt Iran’s economy.
2015: Final nuclear deal |President Obama, along with the leaders of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, reached an agreement with Iran that places significant limits on Iran’s nuclear program. These conditions include limits on enriched uranium and inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. President Obama defends the deal from critics, insisting that the only other option is war.
2016: Sanctions ended |President Obama signed an executive order canceling sanctions against Iran originally designed as a result of Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The order states that there has been a “fundamental change in the situation regarding Iran’s nuclear program.”
President Trump admits US and Israeli military attack on Iran
President Trump confirmed that the United States and Israel launched a military strike against Iran on Saturday morning, February 28th.
2017: Axis of Evil 2.0 |Fifteen years after the Bush administration, President Donald Trump has identified a new “axis of evil” that includes Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.
2018: President Trump changes policy |President Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and reinstated sanctions against Iran. The regime claims the campaign, dubbed “maximum pressure,” will be devastating to Iran’s economy and oil revenues.
2020: Soleimani Assassination |President Trump ordered a drone strike on Iraq to assassinate influential Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. Iran has threatened retaliation, and international experts and policymakers have warned that the United States may have started a war it cannot win. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised President Trump’s “swift, strong and decisive action” and said Israel supports 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 met in Jerusalem and signed a declaration reaffirming the “unwavering” alliance between the two countries. “The United States emphasizes that essential to this pledge is a commitment never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that it stands ready to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome,” the pledge reads.
2023-2024: Tensions increase |Israel went to war with Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 killings in Israel. Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militants attack ships in the Red Sea. The conflict escalated after Israel launched its first attack against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, detonating explosives hidden in the militants’ mobile communications equipment. The following month, Iran fired nearly 200 missiles at Israel, which intercepted most of them but promised retaliation.
March 2025: US confronts Houthi rebels | In March, the United States bombed the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen in a now-infamous attack that officials discussed on Signal.
June 2025: Israel-Iran War |Israel launches airstrikes on Iran, killing top military personnel and damaging nuclear technology. Iran responds with its own missile attack against Israel. A few days later, the United States bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities. Western intervention intensifies the war and stokes fears of broader global conflict.
February 2026: Operation Epic Fury | The United States and Israel began attacking Iran on February 28th. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei was killed along with other senior officials. Iran retaliated with attacks on US military bases in Middle Eastern countries.
It is expected that attacks by the United States will continue. “We’re going to destroy their missiles, we’re going to completely destroy their missile industry. We’re going to completely wipe it out again,” Trump said.
Contributor Sean J. Sullivan
SOURCE USA TODAY NETWORK REPORTS AND INVESTIGATIONS. Reuters; U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
More visual stories illustrating the Iran conflict:
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From Israeli attacks to Iranian retaliation, US bombing and ceasefires
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How does a bunker buster bomb work? A closer look at GBU-57
Iran fires a missile at a US military base in Qatar. Where else can we attack?
Live updates: Ceasefire in place, but Iran’s nuclear program may persist
