And there is a lot of speculation about how or if that could work. For example, the US

could use airstrikes against ISIS targets to make way for ground attacks by Iranian

troops. Or the US could simply provide aid, information and international support, while

Iran does most of the military work on their own. All of which are reasonable plans…

if the US and Iran can trust each other. The question is: given the history between these

two countries...can they?

Well, these two nations have a long and complicated history full of poor decisions and bad blood

on both sides. For starters, in 1953 the US, in conjunction with the UK, organized a coup

in Iran. This replaced Iran’s publicly elected Prime Minister with military rule under a

US-friendly Shah (“SHA”). They did this in part to stifle Russia’s growing influence

in Iran and partly to protect British oil interests in the area. The Iranian Prime Minister

at the time was considering nationalizing Iran’s Oil Industry, somet hing that didn’t

sit well with the West.

For the next 26 years, the US provided aid, support, and even nuclear technology for Iran

and the Shah. It was a period of prosperity for Iran, but there was a growing disconnect

between the Shah and the people. Various student movements, liberal groups and Islamic organizations

resented the fast pace at which the Shah was westernizing and secularizing Iran and the

influence that the US had over him. They also resented the Shah’s increasingly oppressive,

corrupt and extravagant government and his mismanagement of assets, which led to shortages

and inflation.

In 1979, the conflict reached a boiling point and the Shah was overthrown. Power eventually

landed in the hands of The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He established the Islamic Republic

of Iran as we know it today and their relationship with the US hasn’t been good since.

On Nov 4th of that same year, protesters stormed the US embassy in Iran and the Iranian government

held 52 Americans hostage for more than a year. The last of the hostages were released

on Jan 20, 1981.

Since then, the US has backed Iraq in a war against Iran, a war in which the US also attacked

Iranian oil platforms and ships and mistakenly shot down an Iranian passenger jet. Iran has

funded or sheltered Western hating Islamic terrorist groups, held US citizens in Iran

against their will, moved forward with a Nuclear weapons program against objections from the

US and the international community and lied numerous times to international inspectors

about the status of that program. For which the US and the UN have sanctioned Iran. The

US has also conducted numerous covert acts against Iran, including a successful joint

cyber-attack with Israel that briefly crippled Iran’s nuclear program.

It’s been a 35-year period of lies, distrust, covert actions and open aggression. The chances

of the US and Iran working together for a short period against a threat like ISIS is

a possibility. But considering the history, it would most likely have to be an extremely

limited engagement that doesn’t fully require the two sides to trust each other.

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