Iran-U.S. Relations

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U.S.-Iran Relations: 40 Years of Antagonism, Distrust, and Frustration Reflected in New Volume of Declassified Documents

Washington, D.C., September 20, 2021 – Over the four decades since the 1979 Iranian revolution, leaders of both the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran have repeatedly…

Of Interest

Mark Gasiorowski

“Researching Covert Operations in Iran:” A Conversation with Mark Gasiorowski

On March 10, 2021, the National Security Archive hosted a panel honoring Prof. Mark Gasiorowski for his many years as a leading scholar of U.S.-Iran relations.  Click here for more information.

Click here for a video of event

 

 

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XI, Part 1, Iran: Hostage Crisis, November 1979–September 1980

The State Department's Office of the Historian released its latest volume on U.S.-Iran relations on November 17, 2020, Foreign Relations, 1977–1980, Volume XI, Part 1, Iran: Hostage Crisis, November 1979–September 1980. It begins with a Zbigniew Brzezinski memo to President Carter on November 4, 1979, notifying him that the Embassy in Tehran has been overrun, and ends with a hopeful quote following recent political developments from Chargé d'Affaires Bruce Laingen, via the Swiss, on September 9, 1980: "We are allowing ourselves a glimmer of guarded optimism."  The collection contains 359 documents and Editorial Notes and covers 941 pages.  The compiler and editor is Linda Qaimmaqami.  Part 2 on the crisis and a separate volume on the Iranian revolution itself are currently still undergoing declassification review.