Will America go to war with Iran? The history of tensions between the countries explored

As the Iran-Israel conflict escalates dramatically, all eyes are on the US and whether it will enter the war. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has warned the US that joining Israeli strikes will 'result in irreparable damage for them', and blasted US President Donald Trump's 'threatening and ridiculous statements'. Trump on Wednesday insisted that he does not want to enter America into the war and that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon – but conceded that it may have to be one or the other. 'I’m not looking to fight, but if it’s a choice between fighting and them having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do,’ said Trump, adding, 'You may have to fight.' (Picture: Getty Images)

Trump on Tuesday said that the US knows where Khamenei is hiding and called him an 'easy target', and demanded 'unconditional surrender' from Iran. Khamenei in a televised statement hit back: 'Intelligent people who know Iran, the nation and the history of Iran will never speak to this nation in the language of threats, because the Iranian nation cannot be surrendered.' On Wednesday, Israel carried out strikes on more than 20 military targets in Tehran linked to the regime's nuclear weapons development project, and is pushing the US to use its biggest bunker-busting bombs on Iran's nuclear facilities. (Picture: Reuters)

In between meetings in the White House Situation Room, Trump on Wednesday said he had not decided whether to join Israel in attacking Iran and did not give a timetable. 'I have ideas as to what to do,' he said. 'I like to make a final decision one second before it’s due, you know, because things change.' While it's not possible to know what Trump will do before he actually acts, revisiting the history of tensions between the US and Iran can put the current situation into some context. (Picture: AP)

During the Obama administration, from 2009 to 2017, there was a thawing of relations between the US and Iran. Relations were tense at the outset, with Iran refusing to stop its nuclear program and the US imposing sanctions. The countries eventually engaged in cautious talks that culminated in the landmark Iran nuclear agreement of 2015, in which Iran and several world powers including the US agreed to ensure the nuclear program was exclusively peaceful. 'Under its terms, Iran agreed to dismantle much of its nuclear program and open its facilities to more extensive international inspections in exchange for billions of dollars' worth of sanctions relief,' states a Council on Foreign Relations report. (Picture: Reuters)

Iran reached the 2015 deal with the US, UK, the European Union, China, France, Germany and Russia, but Israel opposed it and deemed it too lenient. Trump during his first term in October 2017 disavowed the Iran nuclear deal and threatened to leave it if it did not prohibit Tehran from building nuclear weapons or intercontinental missiles, and in December decertified it and issued new sanctions. In May 2018, Trump pulled US participation from the deal and a major escalation occurred in December 2019, with US airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias that generated headlines similar to today's. A US airstrike in January 2020 killed Qassem Soleimani, who was a mastermind of the regime's ambitions, and Iran responded by announcing it would stop limiting uranium enrichment for building nuclear weapons. (Picture: Getty Images)

The Biden administration, from 2021 to 2025, struggled to get back to Obama-era relations with Iran. President Joe Biden upon taking office voiced support for a new nuclear deal, but by late 2022 said that the deal was 'dead'. In February 2023, United Nations inspectors found that Iran enriched uranium to levels close to those for nuclear weapons, with Tehran claiming it was accidental. Iran launched 180 ballistic missiles toward Israel in October 2024 and Israel in a counterstrike destroyed a critical part of Iran's ballistic missile program. (Picture: Getty Images)

The ongoing Iran-Israel conflict flared up on June 13 when Israel launched a surprise overnight attack on dozens of targets including nuclear facilities, missile sites, generals and scientists, seeking to destroy the regime's nuclear capabilities. Earlier this month, the US proposed a deal to Iran allowing it to move forward with limited low-level uranium enrichment, but negotiations faltered. Israel's operation is expected to go on for days or weeks longer. Before war reignited, the US told Israel that it would not become directly involved in military strikes on Iran – but the situation is very fluid. (Picture: Getty Images)