The United States vs. Iran

How We Got Here

The United States and Iran have been locked in one of the most consequential geopolitical rivalries of the modern era. What began with a CIA-backed coup in 1953 has spiraled across seven decades into hostage crises, tanker wars, proxy conflicts, nuclear standoffs, and - as of February 28, 2026 - direct American military strikes on Iranian soil. The two countries have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1980, making this one of the longest diplomatic ruptures between major nations in modern history.

The human cost has been staggering. Over 900 Americans have been killed in incidents directly linked to Iran or its proxies, from the 241 Marines killed in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing to the three soldiers killed at Tower 22 in Jordan in January 2024. On the Iranian side, the toll includes 290 civilians killed when the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 in 1988, and an unknown but growing number of casualties from the 2025 Twelve-Day War and the ongoing 2026 strikes. The economic damage, measured in oil price shocks, frozen assets, and crippling sanctions, reaches into the trillions.

This is the complete story - every escalation, every law, every presidential decision, every barrel of oil that moved markets - from the overthrow of Mossadegh to the death of Khamenei.

The Roots: Oil, a Coup, and Revolution

For most of American history, the United States and Iran (then Persia) had a positive relationship. Unlike Britain and Russia, who competed for influence in the region during the "Great Game," America was seen as a trustworthy outsider. The U.S. had no colonial ambitions in the region, and Americans like Morgan Shuster even served as financial advisors to Iran's government in the early 1900s.

Everything changed in 1953.

The Coup That Changed Everything

Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh had been democratically elected in 1951 on a popular platform of nationalizing Iran's oil industry, which had been controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later BP). Britain, which received the vast majority of oil profits while Iran got a pittance, was furious. Unable to overthrow Mossadegh alone, London convinced the Eisenhower administration and the CIA to engineer a coup.

Operation TPAJAX, executed in August 1953, toppled Mossadegh and reinstalled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as an authoritarian ruler. The Shah would rule for 26 years with American backing, using his secret police (SAVAK) to crush dissent while modernizing the country with oil wealth. For Washington, it was a Cold War success story. For ordinary Iranians, the 1953 coup became the original sin of American interference - a wound that has never healed.

The Shah Falls, Khomeini Rises

By the late 1970s, the Shah's regime had become deeply unpopular. His lavish spending, political repression, and close identification with America made him a target. In January 1979, massive protests forced the Shah to flee Iran. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shia cleric who had been exiled for 15 years, returned from Paris and established the Islamic Republic of Iran. America instantly became "The Great Satan" in revolutionary rhetoric, and Iran's foreign policy reoriented around opposition to both the United States and Israel.

For Washington, the loss of Iran was catastrophic. The Shah had been one of America's closest allies in the Middle East - a key pillar of the "Twin Pillars" strategy that also relied on Saudi Arabia. His fall removed a major intelligence gathering post on the Soviet border, disrupted oil markets worldwide, and set the stage for the hostage crisis that would define the Carter presidency.

The Hostage Crisis: 444 Days

On November 4, 1979, Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage. Their demand was simple: return the Shah, who had been admitted to the United States for cancer treatment, to face trial in Iran.

What followed was 444 days of national humiliation for the United States. The failed rescue mission - Operation Eagle Claw - in April 1980 resulted in eight American servicemembers dead when a helicopter collided with a transport plane in the Iranian desert, without ever reaching Tehran. The nightly news counted the days. President Carter's approval rating cratered. The crisis is widely seen as a decisive factor in his landslide loss to Ronald Reagan in November 1980.

The hostages were released on January 20, 1981 - literally minutes after Reagan was inaugurated - in what many believe was a deliberate final insult to Carter. As part of the Algiers Accords, the United States agreed to return $7.9 billion in frozen Iranian assets, though billions were held back to settle legal claims.

The Iran-Iraq War and the Tanker War

In September 1980, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, launching one of the bloodiest conflicts since World War II. The war would last eight years and kill nearly two million soldiers and civilians on both sides. The United States, despite officially remaining neutral, tilted heavily toward Iraq - providing intelligence, economic aid, and turning a blind eye to Saddam's use of chemical weapons against Iranian troops and Kurdish civilians.

500+ Ships Attacked

The conflict took a devastating toll on international shipping. Beginning in 1984, both Iran and Iraq attacked oil tankers and merchant vessels in the Persian Gulf in what became known as the Tanker War. Over 500 vessels were damaged or destroyed, threatening the global oil supply that flowed through the Strait of Hormuz.

The United States responded with Operation Earnest Will in 1987, escorting reflagged Kuwaiti tankers through the Gulf. American warships provided protection against Iranian speedboats, mines, and missile attacks. But the operation came at a cost: in May 1987, the Iraqi Air Force struck the USS Stark with two Exocet missiles, killing 37 American sailors. Though Iraq was the attacker, the incident paradoxically increased American hostility toward Iran, as Washington blamed Tehran for the overall instability in the Gulf.

Operation Praying Mantis: America's Largest Naval Battle Since WWII

On April 14, 1988, the USS Samuel B. Roberts struck an Iranian mine while escorting tankers, nearly sinking the ship. Four days later, the U.S. Navy launched Operation Praying Mantis - the largest American naval battle since World War II. In a single day, American forces destroyed two Iranian oil platforms, sank the frigate Sahand and a missile boat, crippled the frigate Sabalan, and destroyed multiple armed speedboats. Iranian F-4 Phantom jets were driven off by missile fire from the USS Enterprise carrier group.

The Tragedy of Iran Air Flight 655

On July 3, 1988, the guided-missile cruiser USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 - a commercial Airbus A300 on a scheduled route from Bandar Abbas to Dubai. All 290 people on board were killed, including 66 children. It remains the deadliest shootdown of a commercial airliner by a military force in history.

The Vincennes crew, engaged in a surface battle with Iranian gunboats, misidentified the ascending civilian airliner as a descending Iranian F-14 fighter jet. A subsequent U.S. Navy investigation blamed the shootdown on human error under extreme stress, finding that the aircraft was actually in its assigned air corridor and ascending - the opposite of what the crew believed. The United States paid $61.8 million in compensation to victims' families through an International Court of Justice settlement in 1996 but never formally admitted wrongdoing or issued an official apology.

For Iranians, Flight 655 became a defining symbol of American callousness. That Captain William Rogers III later received the Legion of Merit was seen as an unforgivable insult. To this day, the incident fuels deep resentment and suspicion of American intentions in the region.

Oil Prices and Iran: Every Escalation Moves Markets

Iran sits on the world's fourth-largest proven oil reserves and third-largest natural gas reserves. More importantly, the Strait of Hormuz - the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which roughly 20% of the world's oil supply passes daily - gives Tehran outsized leverage over the global economy. Every major US-Iran escalation has sent oil prices surging.

Beirut: The Deadliest Day for Marines Since Iwo Jima

On October 23, 1983, a truck packed with an estimated 12,000 pounds of explosives crashed through the gates of the U.S. Marine barracks at Beirut International Airport and detonated. The four-story building imploded in seconds, killing 220 Marines, 18 Navy sailors, and 3 Army soldiers - 241 Americans in total. It was the deadliest single-day loss for the Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945, and the deadliest terror attack against Americans until 9/11.

Minutes later, a second suicide bomber struck the French paratrooper barracks nearby, killing 58 soldiers.

The attacks were carried out by what would become Hezbollah, at the direct instruction of Iran. A U.S. NSA intercept later revealed that Iranian intelligence headquarters in Tehran had sent a message to the Iranian ambassador in Damascus directing him to instruct the militant leader Hussein Musawi to "take a spectacular action against the United States Marines." Tragically, the intercept was not forwarded to military commanders until two days after the bombing.

The aftermath was significant. President Reagan, despite calling it a "despicable act" and vowing that American forces would remain, ordered a withdrawal from Lebanon by February 1984. This retreat would later inspire Osama bin Laden, who cited it as evidence that America was a "paper tiger" that would flee after suffering casualties.

How Iran Has Targeted Americans

Iran has waged a decades-long campaign of asymmetric warfare against the United States, using proxy forces, terrorist organizations, and covert operations rather than conventional military confrontation. The strategy has been devastatingly effective. According to a 2019 Pentagon report, Iran bears direct responsibility for the deaths of at least 603 U.S. service members in Iraq alone between 2003 and 2011 - roughly 17% of all American deaths in the country during that period - primarily through Iran-supplied explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) and other sophisticated IEDs provided to Shia militias.

Beyond military attacks, Iran has pursued a global campaign of assassination plots, kidnappings, and covert operations targeting American officials and dissidents. In 2022, the Department of Justice charged an IRGC operative with plotting to assassinate former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In 2024, the DOJ revealed a plot by Iranian nationals to assassinate Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared from an Iranian island in 2007, was held captive and died in Iranian custody.

Iran's proxy network - often called the "Axis of Resistance" - includes Hezbollah in Lebanon (the most capable non-state military force in the world), Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and various Shia militia groups in Iraq and Syria including Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba, and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq. The U.S. government estimates Iran spends over $1 billion annually financing these groups.

Sanctions: The Laws That Strangled Iran's Economy

The United States has deployed one of the most comprehensive sanctions regimes in history against Iran, evolving from initial asset freezes in 1979 to a sprawling web of laws, executive orders, and secondary sanctions that effectively cut Iran off from the global financial system. The sanctions have devastated Iran's economy - at their peak, they reduced Iran's GDP by an estimated 19.1% - while failing to fundamentally change the regime's behavior.

How Each President Dealt with Iran

The Nuclear Deal and Its Collapse

Iran's nuclear program has been the central flashpoint in US-Iran relations since the early 2000s, when dissident groups revealed covert enrichment facilities. The fear that Iran could develop nuclear weapons has driven sanctions policy, diplomatic initiatives, covert sabotage campaigns (including the Stuxnet computer worm), and ultimately military strikes.

In 2015, the Obama administration achieved what appeared to be a landmark diplomatic breakthrough: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Under the deal, Iran agreed to strict limits on uranium enrichment, reduction of its centrifuge stockpile, and intrusive IAEA inspections. In return, the international community lifted nuclear-related sanctions, releasing over $100 billion in frozen Iranian assets and reopening Iran's oil exports to global markets.

The deal held for three years. Then, in May 2018, President Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the JCPOA, calling it "the worst deal ever negotiated." He reimposed all sanctions and launched a "maximum pressure" campaign intended to force Iran back to the table for a more comprehensive agreement covering ballistic missiles and regional behavior. Iran refused, and instead began gradually exceeding JCPOA limits on enrichment.

By June 2025, the IAEA reported that Iran had accumulated enough enriched uranium to produce nine nuclear warheads, though weaponization would require additional steps. This assessment, combined with Iran's expulsion of IAEA inspectors in July 2025, set the stage for the military strikes that would follow.

The Escalation: From Proxy War to Direct Conflict

The current crisis has roots in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. In the aftermath, Iran-backed proxy forces launched over 200 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, including the January 28, 2024 drone strike on Tower 22 in Jordan that killed three American soldiers - the highest U.S. death toll in the Middle East in over a decade. The Biden administration responded with strikes on 85+ Iran-affiliated targets across Iraq and Syria using over 125 precision munitions.

The confrontation shifted from proxy warfare to direct conflict in 2024, when Israel and Iran exchanged strikes in April and October. Israel's successive elimination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon, and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan devastated Iran's proxy network. Iran's October 2024 missile barrage on Israel - the largest ever - killed dozens and damaged military installations. Israel responded by destroying nearly all of Iran's Russian-supplied S-300 air defense systems, leaving Iran's airspace dangerously exposed.

The Twelve-Day War (June 2025)

On June 13, 2025, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iranian nuclear and military facilities, assassinating prominent leaders and scientists. Iran retaliated with over 550 ballistic missiles and 1,000+ suicide drones. The United States intercepted Iranian attacks and bombed three Iranian nuclear sites on June 22. Iran responded by firing missiles at the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. A ceasefire was reached on June 24 under American pressure.

Operation Epic Fury (February 28, 2026)

Following massive anti-government protests inside Iran (the largest since 1979), failed nuclear negotiations mediated by Oman, and an IAEA discovery that Iran had hidden highly enriched uranium in an undamaged underground facility, the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury on February 28, 2026. The joint operation struck targets in Tehran, Isfahan, Qom, Karaj, and Kermanshah. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed when his compound was destroyed. IRGC facilities, naval assets, and air defenses were targeted. President Trump stated the goal was to "eliminate threats from the Iranian regime" and urged Iranians to rise up for regime change.

Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks against U.S. and Israeli assets across the Middle East, targeting military facilities in Israel, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Oman. The IRGC issued radio warnings declaring the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, causing commercial shipping to plummet by 70%, with over 150 oil and gas tankers anchoring outside the waterway. Major shipping companies including Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, and Hapag-Lloyd suspended all transits. Oil analysts forecast Brent crude reaching $100 per barrel.

Complete Timeline: US-Iran Conflict

The Death Toll: Americans Killed in Iran-Related Incidents

The Strait of Hormuz: The World's Most Dangerous Waterway

The Strait of Hormuz is 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, with shipping lanes just 2 miles wide in each direction. It handles roughly 20% of the world's oil and 20% of global LNG trade. Over 80% of the oil passing through is destined for Asian markets, with China being Iran's largest remaining customer. The U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, maintains a permanent presence to ensure freedom of navigation.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait during periods of tension but had never formally done so until the February 2026 crisis. During the Tanker War of the 1980s, both Iran and Iraq attacked shipping, with over 500 vessels damaged. In 2019, a series of tanker attacks, drone seizures, and mine incidents raised tensions to their highest point in decades. The IRGC has used small speedboat swarm tactics, naval mines, and anti-ship missiles to threaten commercial traffic.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have pipeline infrastructure that can bypass the strait, but combined capacity is limited to roughly 2.6 million barrels per day - a fraction of the 20+ million barrels that transit daily. A prolonged closure would be an unprecedented disruption to global energy markets, with analysts warning of oil prices reaching well beyond $100 per barrel.

Iran-Contra: When America Secretly Armed Iran

In one of the most bizarre chapters of the US-Iran saga, senior Reagan administration officials secretly facilitated arms sales to Iran in 1985-86 - the very country the United States had designated as a state sponsor of terrorism just a year earlier. The proceeds were illegally funneled to Contra rebels in Nicaragua, circumventing a congressional ban on such aid.

The scheme was orchestrated by National Security Council staff member Oliver North and authorized at the highest levels. Iran was desperate for weapons during the Iran-Iraq War, particularly TOW anti-tank missiles and HAWK surface-to-air missiles. In exchange, Iran was supposed to use its influence to secure the release of American hostages held by Hezbollah in Lebanon. The scandal nearly destroyed the Reagan presidency when it was exposed in November 1986, though Reagan himself avoided direct blame after claiming he could not recall key details.

Seven Decades and Counting

As of March 2026, the United States and Iran are engaged in their most direct military confrontation in history. Operation Epic Fury has killed Iran's Supreme Leader, devastated IRGC infrastructure, and pushed the Strait of Hormuz toward its first genuine closure. Iran has retaliated against American and allied assets across the Middle East. Oil markets are in turmoil. Three U.S. servicemembers have been killed with the toll expected to rise.

The fundamental dynamics that have driven this conflict for seven decades remain unchanged: Iran's revolutionary ideology opposes American influence in the Middle East; the United States views Iran's nuclear program, proxy network, and regional ambitions as existential threats to its allies and interests; and the Strait of Hormuz gives Iran leverage that no amount of sanctions or military force has been able to neutralize.

What has changed is the scale. What began as intelligence operations and hostage crises has escalated through proxy wars, cyber attacks, and targeted assassinations to direct military strikes on the Iranian homeland. The question that has haunted every American president since Carter - "What do we do about Iran?" - has been answered in 2026 with military force. Whether that force achieves its stated objectives, or merely deepens a conflict that has outlasted every leader on both sides, remains to be seen.

Sources

This analysis draws on Congressional Research Service reports on Iran sanctions (RS20871), Department of Defense casualty data (2019 Pentagon report on Iran-linked deaths in Iraq), OFAC/Treasury Department sanctions records, Energy Information Administration data on Strait of Hormuz oil transit, National Conference of State Legislatures, Council on Foreign Relations Global Conflict Tracker, Brookings Institution oil market analysis, Washington Institute for Near East Policy research on Hezbollah/IRGC operations, JINSA Iran Projectile Tracker, Supreme Court and federal court rulings (Peterson v. Islamic Republic), IAEA safeguards reports, Britannica, and contemporaneous reporting from Reuters, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, Bloomberg, NPR, CBS News, and other outlets. Oil price data from EIA historical series and market reporting. Casualty figures compiled from DoD records, federal court testimony, and verified media reports. Article current as of March 1, 2026; the situation in the Persian Gulf is evolving rapidly.