US Relations with Iran

1. Iranian Revolution- 1979

1.1. The American embassy in Tehran was captured in November 1979, and 53 Americans were kidnapped. The hostages were not freed until January 1981, after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President.

1.2. In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini, a Muslim religious leader(also a Shia), overthrew the Shah of Iran (Mohammed Reza Pahlavi) and gained control of the country. Many people were inspired to protest as a result of the revolution.

2. The Iran Deal

2.1. The US, Russia, China, Great Britain, France and Germany signed this with Iran in July of 2015 to limit Iran's nuclear weapons stuff.

2.2. Iran agreed to produce or whatever only enough uranium to provide electricity for the nation, but not enough to develop nuclear weapons.

2.3. They(Iran) also agreed to eliminate their stockpile of enriched uranium by 97% and allowed the IAEA( International Atomic Energy Agency) to regularly inspect their nuclear facilities.

2.4. The US and the bros(allies) will lift all nuclear-related economic sanctions, including oil embargoes and financial restrictions.

2.5. They(US and allies) will also recognize Iran’s right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes and Iran will remain subject to a UN arms embargo for five years.

3. Iran Contra Deal

3.1. President Ronald Reagan aided anticommunists in Nicaragua and El Salvador during the 1980s.

3.2. US supported Contra rebels in 1987.

3.3. Congress enacted a law banning future aid to the Nicaragua anticommunist rebels known as Contras.

3.4. To kind of go around the ban, members of President Ronald Reagan's staff secretly sold weapons to Iran and used the proceeds to fund the Contras.

3.5. The deals were kind of very illegal and Pres. Regan claimed this was done without his knowledge.

4. What I got from the video.

4.1. Persian empire is what is now Iran- used to be ruled by Shahs(sort of kings). In 1950, people of Iran elected Mohammad Mosaddegh who gave the oil of Iran back to its people.

4.2. In 1953, US and Great Britain did a coup d'état and made a more monarchy guy, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who was a lavish guy while his country wasn't doing amazing and he controlled with his police which was not very pretty.

4.3. He(Mohammad Reza Pahlavi) then began a campaign to westernize Iran. The Shi'ite population was enraged.

4.4. In 1979, the people overthrew the Shah. Ruhollah Khomeini was the supreme leader and there was chaos.

4.5. The Shah came to the US and people of Iran marched and protested outside the US embassy, protesting for the Shah back and for him to be tried and hanged.

5. The 2009 Election For President of Iran

5.1. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defeated Mir Hossein Mousavi in the 2009 Iranian presidential election, which many believe was rigged.

5.2. Not very happy, thousands of Iranians took to the streets in protest after the election results were released.

5.3. Hassan Rouhani was appointed as Iran's next president. People in Iran believe he is a reformer, so he began negotiating with the West and signed the Iran Deal.

6. In General Stuff(Reading)

6.1. US and Iran relationship was kind of a toxic(pun intended from the Nuclear Deal) one filled with mistrust for a long time.

6.2. The US kind of still sees Iran as an adversary because even though the US has fought alongside Iran against terrorist groups like ISIS, Iran backs groups and terrorists that are fighting US groups.

6.3. The US responded to Iran's enrichment of nuclear stuff by being a little scared first and a little skeptical about when they said it was for Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and getting a nuclear treaty, then taking it it back, Iran starting enrichment of the stuff again, all that jazz.

6.4. Iran kind of sees the US and its allies as a threat to the Iranian security. Hassan Rouhani promised to reduce tensions with the United States and Europe and to bring Iran back into the international economic system.

6.5. Rouhani's conservative opponents didn't think amazingly of the Nuclear Deal and when Pres. Trump withdrew from that, then they were kind of proven right all along.

6.6. The US assassinated Iranian General Solomeini and while Pres. Trump said that he was a terrorist and that this was necessary, many people in Iran thought otherwise and saw him as a hero and Iranians were angry but both sides wanted peace.