GREG MYRE: The U.S. and Iran have been locked in a feud
for decades, but recently, they seem to be making the headlines everyday.
I’m Greg Myre, and here are a few of the developments that caused this sharp escalation.
We’ll start  in 2018, when President Trump withdrew from a nuclear deal
that multiple countries signed with Iran.
This 2015 agreement put strict limits on Iran’s nuclear program for at least ten years,
and in exchange, the U.S. lifted sanctions that were squeezing Iran's economy.
The deal had wide international support, and inspectors reported that Iran was in compliance.
ANNOUNCER: Businessman Donald Trump!
MYRE: However, candidate Donald Trump made clear he was not a fan of the deal.
DONALD TRUMP: Never, ever, ever in my life
have I seen any transaction
so incompetently negotiated as our deal with Iran.
MYRE: He said it expires too soon and fails to cover other points of conflict,
like Iran's missile programs and its support for militant groups,
so after about a year in office, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal.
It didn’t collapse entirely, but Iran has responded by ramping up its nuclear program
and moving beyond the limits of the deal.
Trump delivered a second major blow to Iran in 2019
by imposing oil sanctions designed to prevent all Iranian oil exports.
Iran is now selling much less oil abroad, hitting its economy hard,
and in return, Iran struck back at the U.S. and its allies throughout the region.
The Iranians are accused of damaging oil tankers in the Persian Gulf with mines.
They shot down a U.S. drone.
They’re blamed for a missile attack on a key Saudi Arabian oil facility.
Now Iran has a long history of taking limited actions designed to undermine the U.S. and its allies,
but not going so far as to provoke a major U.S. response,
so the two rivals entered uncharted territory when Trump ordered a drone strike
that killed a prominent Iranian major general, Qassem Soleimani, on Jan. 3.
The U.S. had never before carried out a deadly strike
on such a high-ranking Iranian.
Iran responded with something it had never done before:
firing ballistic missiles at military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq.
Neither side has achieved what it wants.
President Trump hopes to effectively end Iran’s nuclear program
and greatly scale back its wide-ranging role in the Middle East.
Iran, in turn, wants to drive U.S. forces out of neighboring countries
and reduce overall U.S. influence in the region.
It’s a conflict with no end in sight.
Greg Myre, NPR News.
