ABSTRACT
United States (US) president Barack Obama tried to deal with Iran beyond containment. With the Joint and Comprehensive Plan of Action he engaged Iran in negotiations with world powers. Observers are speculating what the intentions of the US towards Iran are if it formulates unfulfillable conditions. Iran’s people expected economic and social benefits through the lifting of sanctions and foreign investment, while its leaders hoped for fewer tensions with world powers. In spring 2019 the US put the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a part of the official Iranian forces, on the list of terrorist groups. For Heinz Gaertner, US–Iran relations are characterized by hegemonic competition in the Middle East, where the US, together with Saudi Arabia and Israel, aims to contain Iran’s influence. Iranian civil society before and after the Revolution has included creative, diverse and energetic people, despite its widespread portrayal by many Western commentators as a unified homogeneous mass.
