The winner of the game between Iran and the United States, this Tuesday (29), will be in the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar. But the anxiety surrounding the match goes beyond guesses about the result, since the two countries have been the protagonists of one of the main geopolitical rivalries in the world for decades.
The tension scenario made another World Cup match between them, in France, in 1998, be equally surrounded by expectations. Iran’s federation even banned its athletes from greeting opponents, while then-US President Bill Clinton said he hoped the match was “a step towards ending the distance” between nations.
After 24 years, the environment of the Persian national team in Qatar has been marked by a wave of protests against the regime, which Tehran accuses Washington of instigating, causing tensions to once again be heightened.
Understand the origin and ups and downs of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Oil and the Coup
The political tussle dates back to the 1940s, when secular nationalist Mohammad Mossadegh managed to get back into the country’s politics, advocating the nationalization of foreign oil companies in order to balance profits with exploration.
With popular support and the political class, he was democratically elected prime minister in 1951, reducing the powers of Shah Reza Pahlevi and approving nationalization – which irritated the United Kingdom, which enacted an embargo on Iranian oil.
Initially, the White House was against the sanctions, fearing that they would bring the Middle Eastern country closer to the Soviet Union in the context of the Cold War. In 1953, the CIA (US intelligence agency) sponsored a coup to remove Mossadegh from power, reinforcing the shah’s monarchical regime.
The movement guaranteed Washington an ally in the Persian Gulf and easy access to the country’s oil: in 1954, an agreement guaranteed that American, British and French oil companies would acquire, for the next 25 years, 40% of the previously nationalized companies.
With the relationship firm, the US helped, with knowledge and technology, Iran to design its nuclear program — which, years later, would be a pillar of disagreements. In 1972, then-President Richard Nixon offered Tehran military systems in exchange for support in the Middle East.
The revolution
The alliance came to an end in 1979 when Pahlevi, weakened and the target of protests, fled the country. With the power vacuum, his main opponent, the Shiite cleric Ruhollah Khomeini took over as ayatollah. Khomeini, who had been living in exile for 14 years, was opposed to the friendly relationship between Iran and the West – he said that reforms that the US had pressured the shah to make, including strengthening women’s rights, were contrary to Islam.
The monarchy turned into a theocratic republic, with the new regime adopting laws based on the Koran, the holy book of Islam. The Islamic Revolution changed women’s basic rights and imposed on them, for example, the use of the hijab, the Islamic veil, which is at the heart of current dissatisfaction.
The kidnap
Khomeini said that Iran would export the revolution to its neighbors, which further upset the White House. In November 1979, four Iranian students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and took 52 hostages. They demanded that Reza Pahlevi, who was reportedly in the US being treated for cancer, be extradited.
The episode, which unfolded into a 444-day crisis, soured the diplomatic relationship once and for all, and the US government announced a series of sanctions against Iran. The hostage crisis, depicted in the movie “Argo”, dominated the final 14 months of Jimmy Carter’s administration (1977-1981), and two rescue missions failed.
The release came 20 minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inaugural address in 1981.
the clashes
The year after the Islamic Revolution, Iraq invaded Iran, alleging the regime’s interference in the country’s politics. The US provided financial, technological and military training support to Baghdad until the end of the conflict in 1988 – around 500,000 people died in the conflicts, most of them Iranians.
In the midst of the war, two episodes raised tensions. In 1983, 241 American servicemen died in an attack in Lebanon. A Hizbullah-linked group backed by Tehran claimed responsibility for the attack, prompting the White House to designate Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Five years later, an error in a US military operation killed 290 people, including 66 children, on an Iran Air commercial flight traveling from Tehran to Dubai.
Washington claimed that a Navy captain, in the Strait of Hormuz, mistook the aircraft, which was in Iranian airspace, for a military fighter in attack procedure – at the time, American vessels were escorting oil tankers after mines from Iran hit ships. The crisis lasted at least one day of naval conflict and imploded relations once and for all.
the nuclear deal
Years later, under the leadership of Barack Obama and Hasan Rowhani, the US and Iran signed a nuclear deal in 2013. The 20-month negotiations took place with the other members of the UN Security Council and Germany, and the document would be perfected two years later, marking the best relationship between the two countries since the Islamic Revolution.
The treaty stipulated limits on uranium enrichment in Tehran, made access to fuel used in nuclear weapons more difficult, reduced the number of centrifuges and scheduled inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In return, economic sanctions were eased and $100 billion in aid to Iran was released.
Donald Trump’s victory, however, changed everything. In 2018, the Republican, who said that the agreement benefited Iranians too much to the detriment of Americans, unilaterally left the treaty and imposed new sanctions.
Tehran would initially maintain the measures provided for in the text, with the hope that the Europeans would convince Trump to back down, but then abandoned the agreement as well – in July 2022, an adviser to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that the country would already be technically capable of manufacturing a nuclear bomb.
the general
Tensions under Trump would flare again in 2019, when Washington blamed Tehran for a series of oil tanker explosions in the Gulf of Oman. Iran denied this and threatened to stop maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
But they would turn sour for good in the early days of 2020, after the US killed Iran’s top military commander, General Qassim Soleimani, in a drone strike. Considered a hero in the country, he was head of the elite Quds force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards – in practice, the second most powerful person in the country after Khamenei.
Days later, Iran hit back, warning that it would no longer limit uranium enrichment, burying the nuclear deal — attempts to revive it have since failed. Days later, he even attacked two American bases in Iraq, in a more symbolic action, but quite calculated.
the protests
In October 2022, a wave of demonstrations took to the streets of Iran in protest against the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who was in custody of the country’s moral police for allegedly not wearing the hijab correctly. Since then, they have only grown stronger, with the regime’s repression killing more than 400 people, according to organizations that monitor the situation.
Tehran has accused rival countries of inciting the movement.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
