B-2 strikes & broken deals: The US-Iran story you need to know
Trump’s B-2 bombers hit Iran’s nuclear sites, closing the loop on decades of shifting U.S.-Iran-Israel ties. What’s next in this dangerous triangle of power?
The latest US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities mark a significant escalation in the already volatile ties between the United States, Iran, and Israel. President Donald Trump’s decision to send B-2 bombers to hit Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow has reignited fears of a wider conflict in the region, bringing full circle a relationship that began with cooperation and now teeters on the edge of open war.
The United States and Iran were once partners in atomic progress. In 1957, under President Eisenhower’s 'Atoms for Peace' programme, Washington helped Iran launch its nuclear programme. A decade later, the US donated a nuclear reactor and uranium to Tehran, cementing an alliance that would later unravel dramatically.
Origins of tension
The ties between Iran and the US took a darker turn in 1953 when Washington, alongside London, orchestrated a coup that deposed democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. Mossadegh’s move to nationalise the oil industry threatened British interests in the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, later known as British Petroleum (BP). In his place, the USbacked Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, establishing a 26-year period of American dominance over Iran’s political landscape.
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Israel, as a close U.S. ally, also enjoyed strong relations with Iran during this era. Together, the three nations formed a strategic bloc in a region marked by Arab hostility. “Relations between Iran and the United States is the stuff of a film script,” said KS Dakshina Murthy, The Federal’s consulting editor.
Shifting alliances
Despite public posturing, Shah maintained warm ties with Israel while voicing criticism post the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The 1979 Islamic Revolution severed these connections. The U.S. cut diplomatic ties following the hostage crisis, and the decades since have been marked by mistrust, with occasional back-channel cooperation, such as during the Reagan administration’s arms-for-hostages deal in Lebanon.
The 1990s saw Iran quietly advance its nuclear program as regional focus shifted to Iraq and Afghanistan. Even as Israel attempted to rekindle ties with Tehran, efforts failed. The fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 briefly opened new dynamics, but Iran’s 2005 hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took a confrontational stance, refusing to recognize Israel and calling for its destruction.
Nuclear flashpoints
Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric provided Israel and the US fresh grounds to oppose Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “The latest 12-day conflict with Israel and the US is in some ways the first violent outcome of this dispute,” Dakshina Murthy observed. The George W. Bush administration amplified scrutiny on Iran’s nuclear programme, forcing it into a defensive position internationally.
Efforts at diplomacy under Barack Obama led to the 2015 nuclear deal, but Trump’s 2018 withdrawal reignited tensions. Iran’s cooperation against ISIS between 2014 and 2017, spearheaded by commander Qasem Soleimani, did little to change the larger animosity. Trump’s 2020 assassination of Soleimani and Israel’s killing of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh further deepened the rift.
What lies ahead
“The just-concluded 12-day conflict is the culmination of one round of bloodletting among the three,” Dakshina Murthy said, warning that tensions could either cool temporarily or flare up again. With the intricate history between the U.S., Iran, and Israel, the path forward remains unpredictable.
“All options are possible at this stage,” he concluded.
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