The United States lifted nuclear-related sanctions on Iran on Saturday after the International Atomic Energy Agency certified Tehran had taken steps to limits its nuclear activities under a July 2014 agreement.
In a related diplomatic deal between the two long-time adversaries, Iran freed five detained Americans and US President Barack Obama granted clemency to at least seven Iranians convicted in US courts or awaiting trial.
Following is a chronology of major events in relations between the Iran and the United States:
1953 - CIA helps orchestrate overthrow of Iran’s popular Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, restoring to power the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. 1957 - The US and Iran sign an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation. 1968 - Iran signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which, when ratified two years later, permits Iran to have a civil nuclear program in return for a commitment not to acquire nuclear weapons. 1979 - Iran’s Islamic Revolution forces US-backed Shah to flee, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns from exile and becomes supreme religious guide. Fundamentalist students demanding Washington hand over the Shah for trial seize the US embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4 and hold staff hostage for 444 days. 1980 - United States cuts diplomatic ties with Iran, seizes Iranian assets and bans most trade with it. US hostage rescue mission ordered by President Jimmy Carter fails when helicopter crashes in sandstorm and eight US servicemen are killed. 1986 - Reagan reveals secret arms deal with Tehran in violation of US arms embargo. Money from the sales was secretly passed to anti-communist guerrillas in Nicaragua. 1988 - US warship Vincennes mistakenly shoots down Iranian passenger plane over the Gulf, killing all 290 aboard. 2002 - President George W Bush declares Iran, Iraq, North Korea an “axis of evil.” US officials accuse Tehran of operating secret nuclear weapons program. 2006 - Washington says willing to join multilateral nuclear talks with Iran if it verifiably suspends nuclear enrichment. 2007 - A US National Intelligence Estimate assesses with high confidence that Iran was working to develop nuclear weapons until the fall of 2003, when it halted weapons work. 2008 - US President George W. Bush for the first time sends an official, Under Secretary of State Bill Burns, to directly take part in nuclear negotiations with Iran in Geneva. 2009 - Britain, France and the United States announce that Iran is building a secret uranium-enrichment site at Fordow, near the Shia Muslim holy city of Qom. Iran says it disclosed the site to the UN nuclear watchdog earlier in the week. 2009-2012 - Nuclear negotiations between major powers and Iran largely stall. 2012 - US law goes into effect giving Obama the power to sanction foreign banks, including the central banks of US allies, if they fail to significantly reduce their imports of Iranian oil. The result is a drastic reduction in Iranian oil sales and a sharp downturn in the Iranian economy. 2012 - US and Iranian officials begin secret talks, which intensify in 2013, on the nuclear issue. 2013 - Pragmatist Hassan Rouhani is elected Iran’s president on platform of improving Iran’s relations with the world and its economy, something that can only be achieved by easing sanctions imposed because of Iran’s nuclear program. On September 28, Obama and Rouhani speak by telephone in the highest-level contact between the two countries in three decades.
On November 23, with the groundwork laid by the secret US-Iran talks, Iran and six major powers reach an interim pact called the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear work in return for limited sanctions relief.
The six powers are the US, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia
2015 - On July 14, Iran and the six powers strike an agreement, under which Iran agreed to take a series of steps, including slashing its number of centrifuges and disabling a key part of its Arak nuclear reactor - in return for significant easing of US, UN and EU sanctions.The deal is called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
2016 - On January 14, Iran releases 10 US sailors, who ended up in Iranian territorial waters on two small boats, less than 24 hours after Iran took them into custody.On January 16, the United States and Iran announce a prisoner swap. Four Americans imprisoned in Iran are freed in return for clemency for at least seven Iranians, most of whom are dual US-Iranian nationals, who were convicted or awaiting trial in the United States. A fifth American is released separately.