1993-2001: Clinton administration
In April 1995, a total embargo on dealings with Iran by American companies was imposed by President Bill Clinton. This ended trade, which had been growing following the end of the Iran-Iraq War.[115] The next year, the American Congress passed the Iran-Libya Sanctions act, designed to
prevent other countries from making large investments in Iranian energy. The act was denounced by the European CC as invalid,[116] but it blocked some investment for Iran.
Khatami and Iranian reformers
In January 1998, newly elected Iranian President Mohammad Khatami called for a "dialogue of civilizations" with the United States. In the interview, Khatami invoked Alexis de Tocqueville's
Democracy in America to explain similarities between American and Iranian quests for freedom.
American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright responded positively. This brought free travel
between the countries as well as an end to the American embargo of Iranian carpets and pistachios. Relations then stalled due to opposition from Iranian conservatives and American preconditions for discussions, including changes in Iranian policy on Israel, nuclear energy, and support for terrorism.[117]
Inter-Parliamentary (Congress-to-Majlis) informal talks
On August 31, 2000, four United States Congress members, Senator Arlen Specter, Representative Bob Ney, Representative Gary Ackerman, and Representative Eliot L. Engel held informal talks in
New York City with several Iranian leaders. The Iranians included Mehdi Karroubi, speaker of the
Majlis of Iran (Iranian Parliament); Maurice Motamed, a Jewish member of the Majlis; and three other Iranian parliamentarians.[118]
2001-05: Bush administration, first term
September 11 attacks
On September 25, 2001, Iran's president Mohammad Khatami meeting British Foreign Secretary,
Jack Straw, said: "Iran fully understands the feelings of the Americans about the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11." He said although the American administrations had been at best indifferent about terrorist operations in Iran (since 1979), the Iranians instead felt
differently and had expressed their sympathetic feelings with bereaved Americans in the tragic incidents in the two cities. He also stated that "Nations should not be punished in place of terrorists."[119] According to Radio Farda's website, when the attacks' news was released, some Iranian citizens gathered in front of the Embassy of Switzerland in Tehran, which serves as the
protecting power of the United States in Iran (US interests protecting office in Iran), to express their sympathy and some of them lit candles as a symbol of mourning. This piece of news at Radio
Farda's website also states that in 2011, on the anniversary of the attacks, United States Department of State, published a post at its blog, in which the Department thanked Iranian people for their sympathy and stated that they would never forget Iranian people's kindness on those harsh days.[120] The attacks were condemned by both the President and the Supreme Leader of Iran. BBC and Time magazine published reports on holding candlelit vigils for the victims by Iranian citizens at their websites.[121][122] According to Politico magazine, following the attacks, Sayyed Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, "suspended the usual "Death to America" chants at Friday prayers" temporarily. The military forces of the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran
cooperated with each other to overthrow the Taliban regime which had conflicts with the government of Iran.[123] Iran's Quds Force helped US forces and Afghan rebels in 2001 uprising in Herat.[124][125]
"Axis of evil" speech
On January 29, 2002-four months after 9/11, US President Bush gave his "Axis of evil" speech,
describing Iran, along with North Korea and Iraq, as an axis of evil and warning that the proliferation of long-range missiles developed by these countries constituted terrorism and threatened the
United States. The speech caused outrage in Iran and was condemned by reformists and conservatives.[126]
Since 2003, the United States has been flying unmanned aerial vehicles, launched from Iraq, over
Iran to obtain intelligence on Iran's nuclear program, reportedly providing little new information.[127] The Iranian government has described the surveillance as illegal.[128]
Alleged "Grand Bargain" proposal
A tractor-trailer from Fairfax County, Virginia's Urban Search and Rescue Team loaded aboard a C-5 Galaxy
heading for Bam, Iran
On 4 May 2003, the Swiss government sent the U.S. State Department an unsigned one-page memorandum, which was not on official letterhead, and contained a cover letter by Swiss diplomat Tim Guldimann which laid out a roadmap for discussions between Iran and the U.S. Under the
heading of "U.S. aims", the document stated that Iran was willing to put the following aims on the agenda: Accepting the two-states approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ending material
support to Palestinian opposition groups from Iranian territory, pressuring Hezbollah to become an exclusively political and social organization within Lebanon, supporting political stabilization and the establishment of democratic institutions in Iraq, taking decisive action against any terrorists (above all al Qaeda) on Iranian territory, and fully cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure there are no Iranian endeavors to develop or possess WMD.
Under "Iran aims", the document stated the U.S. accepts a dialogue and agrees that Iran puts the
following aims on the agenda: Ending U.S. efforts to change the political system in Iran, abolishing all sanctions, taking action against the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MKO), recognizing Iran's legitimate security interests in the region, and granting Iran access to peaceful nuclear, biotechnology, and chemical technologies. In the cover letter, Guldimann claimed that he developed the "Roadmap" with Sadeq Kharrazi, the Iranian ambassador in Paris, and that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei agreed with 85-90% of the paper, although he could not obtain a precise answer on what exactly the Leader explicitly has agreed.[129][130][131] The Bush administration did not respond to the proposal, although in March 2004 President Bush sent Mohamed ElBaradei to Tehran with the message that "an Iranian representative with the authority to make a deal should go to the U.S. and
Bush himself would personally lead" negotiations to "resolve all the issues between us;" according to Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian leadership decided "we should not negotiate with the U.S.," even though "the Americans had taken the first step."[130][132]
In 2007, The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and others popularized the notion that hard-liners in the Bush administration killed discussion of an Iranian "Grand Bargain" that "could have saved lives in Iraq, isolated Palestinian terrorists and encouraged civil society groups in Iran," concluding: "officials from the repressive, duplicitous government of Iran pursued peace more
energetically and diplomatically than senior Bush administration officials-which makes me ache for my country."[133][134] Kristof claimed Iran sent its own master text of the proposal to the State Department and, through an intermediary, to the White House.[133] However, evidence casts doubt on the genuineness of this proposal, which may have merely been an invention of Guldimann, who sought to promote U.S.-Iran rapprochement.[130][131] Michael Rubin noted that "Guldimann told different people different things about the document's origin," while the Swiss Foreign Ministry
refused to back up Guldimann's account.[135] Iranian and U.S. officials were engaged in a series of secret, high-level negotiations during 2003, and Iran's UN ambassador Mohammad Javad Zarif had met with U.S. diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad on May 3-one day prior to the State Department receiving the alleged "Grand Bargain."[130][131] Glenn Kessler asked "If Iran was serious, why would such an important diplomatic undertaking be transmitted in such a haphazard way through the Swiss ambassador when one of the supposed co-authors was already holding senior-level talks with U.S. officials?"[130] Similarly, Rubin declared: "Guldimann's ignorance of these ongoing discussions
exposed his fraud."[131] Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage recounted that U.S. officials "couldn't determine what was the Iranians' and what was the Swiss ambassador's" and "nothing that we were seeing in this fax was in consonance with what we were hearing face to face,"[134][136] former National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley called the "Grand Bargain" the
result of freelancing by a Swiss diplomat hoping to be the one to make peace between Iran and the United States,[137] and a State Department spokesman described the document as "a creative exercise on the part of the Swiss ambassador."[136] In a 30 March 2006 email to Trita Parsi, Zarif
confessed: "The claims and counter claims about the source of the proposals and motivations of intermediaries remain a mystery for me. What I think is important is the fact that Iran was prepared."[138]
2003: Border incursions begin
Several claims have been made that the US has violated Iranian territorial sovereignty since 2003, including drones,[139][140] soldiers,[141] and the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK).[142] An
American RQ-7 Shadow and a Hermes UAV have crashed in Iran.[140] Seymour Hersh stated that the
United States has also been penetrating eastern Iran from Afghanistan in a hunt for underground installations developing nuclear weapons.[141]
2005-09: Bush administration, second term
In August 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became Iran's president. On 8 May 2006, he sent a personal letter to President Bush to propose "new ways" to end Iran's nuclear dispute.[143] US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley dismissed it as a negotiating ploy and publicity stunt that did not address American concerns about Iran's nuclear program.[144] Ahmadinejad later said that "the letter was an invitation to monotheism and justice".[145]
Bush insisted in August 2006 that there must be consequences for Iran's continued enrichment of uranium. He said that "the world now faces a grave threat from the radical regime in Iran."[146]
Ahmadinejad invited Bush to a debate at the UN General Assembly, which was to take place on
September 18, 2006. The debate was to be about Iran's right to enrich uranium. The invitation was promptly rejected by White House spokesman Tony Snow.[147]
Columbia University students
protesting against the university's decision to invite Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad to the university campus
In November 2006, Ahmadinejad wrote an open letter to the American people,[148] stating that dialogue was urgently needed because of American activities in the Middle East and that the United States was concealing the truth about relations.[149]
In September 2007, Ahmadinejad addressed the UN General Assembly. Prior to this, he gave a speech at Columbia University, where university president Lee Bollinger used his introduction to
portray the Iranian leader as uneducated about the Holocaust and having the policies of a "cruel and
petty dictator". Ahmadinejad answered a query about the treatment of gays in Iran by saying: "We don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country. We don't have this
phenomenon; I don't know who's told you we have it". An aide later stated that he was
misrepresented and was actually saying that "compared to American society, we don't have many homosexuals".[150] Ahmadinejad was not permitted to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site. He stated, "Many innocent people were killed there. We obviously are very much against any
terrorist action and any killing. And also we are very much against any plots to sow the seeds of
discord among nations. Usually, you go to these sites to pay your respects. And also to perhaps to air your views about the root causes of such incidents." When told that Americans believed that Iran exported terrorism and would be offended by the photo op, he replied, "How can you speak for the whole of the American nation? The American nation is made up of 300 million people. There are
different points of view over there".[151]
In an April 2008 speech, Ahmadinejad described the September 11 attacks as a "suspect event", saying that all that happened was a building collapsed. He stated that the death toll was never
published, the victims' names were never published, and that the attacks were used subsequently as pretext for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.[152] That October, he expressed happiness about the 2008 global economic crisis. He said the West has been driven to a dead-end and that Iran was proud "to put an end to liberal economy".[153] The previous month, he had told the UN General Assembly, "The American empire in the world is reaching the end of its road, and its next rulers must limit their interference to their own borders".[154]
Iran's nuclear program
Since 2003, the United States had alleged that Iran had a program to develop nuclear weapons. Iran maintained that its nuclear program was aimed only at generating electricity. The United States'
position was that "a nuclear-armed Iran is not acceptable",[155] but officials have denied that the
United States is preparing for an imminent strike. The United Kingdom, France and Germany have also attempted to negotiate a cessation of nuclear enrichment activities by Iran.[156]
In June 2005, Condoleezza Rice said that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head
Mohamed El Baradei should either "toughen his stance on Iran" or not be chosen for a third term as IAEA head.[157] Both the United States and Iran are parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The United States and other countries were alleged during the May 2005 NPT meeting to be in violation of the NPT through Article VI, which requires them to disarm. The IAEA has stated that
Iran is in violation of a Safeguards Agreement related to the NPT, due to insufficient reporting of nuclear material, its processing and its use.[158] Under Article IV, the treaty gives non-nuclear states the right to develop civilian nuclear energy programs.[159] From 2003 to early 2006, tensions
mounted between the United States and Iran while IAEA inspections of sensitive nuclear industry sites in Iran continued.
In March 2006, American and European representatives noted that Iran had enough unenriched uranium hexafluoride gas to make ten atomic bombs, adding that it was "time for the Security Council to act".[160] The unenriched uranium cannot be used either in the Bushehr reactor, which is a pressurized water reactor, nor in atomic bombs, unless it becomes enriched.
Iran fears of attack by the US
In 2006, the United States passed the Iran Freedom and Support Act, which appropriated millions of dollars for human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in Iran. Several politicians in both countries have claimed the Act is a "stepping stone to war",[161] although the Act prohibits the use of force against Iran.
In May 2007, Iran's top diplomat Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki stated that Iran is "ready to talk" to the United States.[162] That month, Iran announced willingness, under certain conditions, to improve its relations with the United States despite having passed up the opportunity for direct talks at the Iraq conference in Sharm El-Sheikh on May 3, 2007. The conference had been seen by the Americans as an opportunity to get closer to the Iranians and exchange gestures in a public forum.[163]
US covert operations inside Iran
In March 2006, the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK), an opposition group closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) killed 24 members of the Iranian security forces. The PEJAK is linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party, which is listed by the US State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Dennis Kucinich stated in an April 18, 2006, letter to Bush that PEJAK was
supported and coordinated by the United States, since it is based in Iraq, which is under the de facto control of American military forces. In November 2006, journalist Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker supported this claim, stating that the American military and the Israelis are giving the group equipment, training, and targeting information in order to create internal pressures in Iran.[164]
On April 3, 2007, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) stated that the United States had
supported Jundullah since 2005.[165] The Washington Times has described Jundullah as a militant Islamic organization based in Waziristan, Pakistan, and affiliated with Al-Qaeda that has claimed to kill approximately 400 Iranian soldiers.[166]
The United States has escalated its covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources.[167] They state that Bush sought up to $400 million for these military operations, which were described in a secret presidential finding and are designed to destabilize Iran's religious leadership. The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations. United States Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with presidential authorization, since 2007. The scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), have been significantly expanded in 2008.[167]
Iraqi insurgency
Iran has been accused by the United States of giving weapons and support to the Iraqi insurgency (which includes the terrorist group al-Qaeda). The United States State Department states that weapons are smuggled into Iraq and used to arm Iran's allies among the Shiite militias, including those of the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army.[168] Evidence for this is that weapons, including mortars, rockets and munitions bear Iranian markings. US commanders report that these bombs inflicted 30 percent of all American military casualties in Iraq excluding Al Anbar Governorate, where these weapons have not been found. Furthermore, US intelligence has obtained satellite photographs of three training camps for Iraqi insurgents near Iran's capital where they are allegedly trained guerilla tactics, kidnapping and assassination.[169]
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell stated in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations that there was overwhelming evidence that Iran was arming the insurgency in Iraq.[170] During his address to the United States Congress on September 11, 2007, Commanding officer for the United States forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus noted that the multinational forces in Iraq have found that Iran's Quds force has provided training, equipment, funding, and
direction to terrorists. "When we captured the leaders of these so-called special groups ... and the
deputy commander of a Lebanese Hezbollah department that was created to support their efforts in Iraq, we've learned a great deal about how Iran has, in fact, supported these elements and how those elements have carried out violent acts against our forces, Iraqi forces and innocent civilians."[171] In a speech on 31 January 2007, Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki said that Iran was supporting attacks against Coalition forces in Iraq.[172]
In 2014, the United States and Iran began unofficial limited cooperation in the fight against the terrorist organization Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).[173]
2006 sanctions against