Shahs and Sanctions: The Story of Past, Present, and Future Tensions with Iran

Abstract

It’s hard to deny that the historically intense distrust between the United States and Iran helps motivate some of the anti-deal sentiment in each country. It’s also, however, this same shared history of suspicion that may hold some of the most import-ant insights about the deal itself. The context for this understanding is the thread of Iranian-Western relations through the ages of colonialism and decolonization, the Islamic Revolution, and the formation of the current regime in Iran. A further layer of complexity in looking at the nuclear negotiations is added with the consideration of the contemporary social and political atmosphere in the Iranian domestic sphere. This often-overlooked background speaks of a situation far more complex than what many who oppose the accords seem to entertain and that must be taken into account if the United States and the West want to see long-term diplomatic success with Iran.