1953 US-backed coup ousts popular prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh and reinstates the Shah of Iran
1979 Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrows the Shah; US embassy staff are held hostage for 444 days
1980 US president Jimmy Carter breaks off diplomatic relations and imposes sanctions, including seizure of Iranian assets, after talks to free the hostages break down
1980 Iraq invades Iran in a war that lasts until 1980 and in which at least 600,000 Iranians die; US gives support to Iraq as the war goes on
1981 Iran deploys Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley after Israeli invasion
1983 Separate bombings by militant Shia groups linked to Iran kill 63 at the US embassy in Beirut, including eight senior CIA operatives, and 241 US marines
1985-86 ‘Iran-contra’ affair sees US supply weapons to Iran in return for freeing of western hostages in Lebanon, with arms proceeds sent on to ‘Contras’ in Nicaragua
1989 US shoots down Iranian passenger plane in Persian Gulf, killing all 290 aboard
1996 President Bill Clinton introduces tougher sanctions against Iran
1998 Secretary of State Madeleine Albright speaks of a “road map leading towards normal relations” after reformist president Mohammad Khatami wins 1997 presidential election
2000 Albright acknowledges US role in 1953 coup
2001 Iran and US have diplomatic contacts over US invasion of Afghanistan
2002 New US president George Bush includes Iran with Iraq and North Korea in an “axis of evil”
2003 Iran remains neutral as US invasion of Iraq clears way for the political rise of Shia Muslim parties allied to Iran
2005 Fundamentalist Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad wins landslide presidential election win: Iran’s two-year nuclear negotiations with the Europeans break down
February 2006 Board of the International Atomic Energy Agency refers Iran to the UN security council over its atomic programme; US presses for sanctions but is unable to win support of Russia and China
May 2006 President Ahmadi-Nejad writes to president Bush proposing both countries acknowledge common roots in the religious prophets of Christianity and Islam; Washington snubs the letter
