AHMADINEJAD'S ARRIVAL
The election of hard-liner Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005 weakens the case for better relations. Ahmadinejad calls for the elimination of Israel, a key U.S. ally, and declares the Holocaust a myth. He sends Bush an 18-page letter criticizing the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks. With Iraq in chaos, U.S. officials reach out to Iranian counterparts for help in stemming the violence. Anti-war sentiment rises in the United States and Bush and his advisers play down talk of war and join nuclear negotiations between world powers and Iran. At the same time, the U.S. rallies international unity against Iran's nuclear activity. The diplomatic effort yields three rounds of U.N. penalties between 2006 and 2008 demanding Tehran stop enriching uranium and exporting weapons. They also slap Iran with banking, trade and travel restrictions.
OBAMA'S ENGAGEMENT
President Barack Obama takes office in 2009 after raising the possibility of sitting down with Iranian leaders without preconditions. Engagement becomes difficult after hard-liner Ahmadinejad wins another term. On the sidelines of nuclear talks in October 2009, a senior U.S. official meets privately with a top Iranian negotiator for some of the most extensive bilateral talks in decades. Iran backs out of a deal reached with world powers to ship much of its higher-enriched uranium out of the country.
CRIPPLING PENALTIES
A fourth round of U.N. penalties against Iran is approved in 2010. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Israel covertly cooperate in a campaign to sabotage Iran's nuclear program. After Syria's civil war erupts in 2011, Iran actively supports Syrian President Bashar Assad while the U.S. slowly escalates aid to the Syrian opposition. Obama faces pressure at home and abroad over Iran's nuclear program. He urges patience from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who threatens an Israeli military intervention. But Obama also says all U.S. military options are on the table. With engagement failing, he focuses on "crippling" international sanctions. The most severe hit Iran'soil industry, slicing exports in half and leaving the Iranian economy in tatters. Several more rounds of nuclear talks take place, though no progress is made. During his re-election campaign, Obama pledges to keep Iranfrom having the capacity to develop nuclear weapons.
MODERATION PREVAILS
Promising a new course of moderation, Hassan Rouhani, who became Iran's new president in August, is elected with the backing of centrists and reformists. Rouhani makes a series of public statements suggesting new flexibility with the West and exchanges letters with Obama. In late September, Obama makes a ground-breaking phone call to Rouhani, marking the first contact in more than 30 years between the leaders of the two countries. While Israel reaffirms its tough stance against Iran and harshly criticizes the latest negotiations, sentiment in Washington's political circles softens.
NEW ROUND OF NUCLEAR TALKS CONVENES
Talks convene in Geneva in early November with high hopes of reaching a deal that would include initial caps onIran's capacity to make a nuclear bomb in exchange for the easing of some sanctions stifling Iran's economy. Secretary of State John Kerry says "significant progress" is made, but the talks end with no deal after France says the deal doesn't go far enough and Iranian negotiators say they have to take the proposed deal back to Tehran. The parties agree to resume talks Nov. 20.
REACHING A DEAL
Six world powers and Iran strike a deal that calls on Tehran to limit its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief. After five days of negotiations, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tells reporters in the early hours of Nov. 24, "Yes, we have a deal."
