from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Reza-Shah-Pahlavi
"After centuries of misrule by its former rulers and the ravages of the war waged by foreign belligerents on its soil from 1914 to 1919, Iran in 1921 was prostrate, ruined, and on the verge of disintegration.
"The cabinet was weak and corrupt. Patriotic and nationalist elements had long been outraged at the domination of Iran by foreign powers, especially Great Britain and Russia, both of which had strong commercial and strategic interest in the country.
In 1928 he put an end to the one-sided agreements and treaties with foreign powers, abolishing all special privileges. He built the Trans-Iranian Railway and started branch lines toward the principal cities (1927–38). He emancipated women and required them to discard their veils (1935). He took control of the country’s finances and communications, which up to then had been virtually in foreign hands. He built roads, schools, and hospitals and opened the first university (1934). His measures were directed at the same time toward the democratization of the country and its emancipation from foreign interference.
His foreign policy, which had consisted essentially of playing the Soviet Union off against Great Britain, failed when those two powers joined in 1941 to fight the Germans. To supply the Soviet forces with war material through Iran, the two allies jointly occupied the country in August 1941.
Iranian Revolution, popular uprising in Iran in 1978–79 that resulted in the toppling of the monarchy on February 11, 1979, and led to the establishment of an Islamic republic. It involved the participation of a wide range of Iranians—from the secular left to the religious right—who sought an end to the shah’s autocracy and Western interference in the country’s policies.
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from https://www.britannica.com/topic/US-Iran-Relations-A-Timeline
To say that the relationship between the governments of the United States and Iran has been volatile over the last 80 years is to master the art of understatement.
The U.S. installed and propped up a highly unpopular leader, endured the trauma of having citizens held hostage by the government that ousted him, surreptitiously sold arms to that same government less than a decade later, and branded Iran as part of an “axis of evil” before trying to solidify a global deal for nuclear restriction. Then, in 2026, Pres. Donald Trump ordered attacks on Iran that killed its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
The dizzying nature of these events can leave anyone wondering, “How did we get here?” Here’s a look at how a once-promising international relationship devolved into one defined by searing images, hostile rhetoric, and bloodshed.
The coup, backed by the CIA and British intelligence, overthrew the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, August 1953.
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