ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the emergence of Iran as a potential nuclear threat and dominant strategic force in the Middle East. It explains the approaches to dealing with the Iranian government by the Barack Obama and the now Donald Trump administration. The chapter examines the short-term and long-term implications of a nuclear Iran. US–Iran relations in the 20th and 21st centuries can best be described as a complex web of distrust and hostility. The United States has a long history of involvement in Iran, dating back to the 1950s when it formed a close diplomatic and economic relationship with the majority-Shia country. Iran became the center of American influence in the Middle East and a key provider of oil for the US economy, while the United States supported the regime of the authoritarian monarch, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. The economic sanctions imposed on Iran by both the United States and other countries had a serious impact on the national economy.
