On February 28, the United States and Israel attacked several Iranian cities using fighter jets and missiles. The attacks have targeted military installations and Iranian leaders.
Iran's supreme leader was killed, but civilians were also affected.
Iran responded with missile strikes against Israel and American military bases in several countries in the region.
Before the war, the United States and Iran were in negotiations about Iran's nuclear programme. Israel, which is closely allied with the USA, views Iran as a threat and has wanted to get the USA to join an attack on the Iranian missile programme, according to Norwegian newspaper VG (link in Norwegian).
What is the historical background behind the poor relationship between the United States and Israel on one side and Iran on the other?
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The United States wanted to counter Soviet influence
Middle East expert Knut S. Vikør is a historian and emeritus at the University of Bergen who specialises in Islamic history.
He explains that the relationship between the USA and Iran collapsed in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution.
"Before that, Iran had been called the USA's aircraft carrier in the Middle East. The Shah’s regime at the time had close ties with the United States," he says.
The reason was the Cold War, Vikør explains.
"The United States was concerned because several countries in the region after World War II, such as Iraq and Syria, had adopted an independent stance from the former colonial powers and had moved closer to the Soviet Union," he says.
The Gulf states were pro-Western but had small military forces, says Vikør, while Iran is a large country.
"The alliance with Iran was a way to counter what could become pro-Soviet military regimes in the Arab world near Iran," he says.
Oil production also made Iran an important country. Britain had strong interests there.
This was part of the background for the coup in Iran in 1953, where the democratically elected prime minister Muhammad Mosaddeq was removed from power. Mosaddeq followed a nationalist policy and wanted to nationalise the oil industry.
American and British intelligence helped ensure that he was removed, strengthening the Shah's power.
"The USA helped reinstate the Shah. He had fled the country but was brought back, and the prime minister was removed by forces backed by the CIA," he says.
Opposition was suppressed with brutal methods
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So why was there a revolution in Iran in 1979?
According to Vikør, strong opposition to the Shah’s authoritarian rule developed among both the middle class and the general population. The Shah had been reinstated with foreign support and became increasingly dependent on that support.
Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi introduced reforms to modernise the country. This was called the White Revolution. The reforms were intended to provide better services for the population and greater equality, but parts of the population felt the reforms were imposed on them, and they sparked resistance in religious communities.
"All attempts at opposition during the 1960s and 1970s were harshly suppressed. The secret police, SAVAK, became especially known for their brutality," says Vikør.
In the cities, this led to a left-wing and liberal opposition, while in rural areas the opposition was more rooted in religion.
The population eventually revolted against the Shah's regime. Ruhollah Khomeini became a leading figure for the opposition and took power in 1979.
Ruhollah Khomeini on a plane returning to Iran after 14 years in exile.(Photo: AP Photo / Thierry Campion)
American citizens were taken hostage
Relations between the United States and Iran collapsed when Iranian students seized staff at the American embassy and held them hostage. Iran refused to release them. One of the demands was that the USA hand over the Shah for execution.
The former Shah died in Cairo in 1980, yet the 52 hostages were not released until 1981.
The Iranian Revolution was partly driven by opposition to foreign influence. The rhetoric was harsh, and Khomeini referred to the USA as 'the great Satan.' The new regime was also hostile towards Israel.
"This was because Israel was considered an ally of the United States. Opposition to Zionism and support for Palestinians were also central elements in both the left-wing and religious opposition movements. The Palestinian cause became a symbolic issue used to demonstrate an anti-USA stance and solidarity with the Islamic world," says Vikør.
The rhetoric has changed little, according to the historian. 'Death to Israel' is used as a slogan during demonstrations. Tensions have also been fueled by Iran's support for militant groups hostile to Israel.
"Especially Hezbollah, a Shia movement in Lebanon that was created with direct backing from Iran," he says.
One of the hostages who was held captive at the American embassy in Tehran in 1979.(Photo: AP / NTB)
Israel began to see Iran as its biggest threat
Israel has long regarded Iran as an enemy, though earlier it was not considered the most significant threat because the countries are not neighbours, Vikør explains.
In the 1990s, Israel began to see Iran as an existential threat, according to the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia. Both countries had ambitions to become dominant powers in the Middle East.
Under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, who has led Israel in a more right-leaning political direction, emphasising national defence against enemies has become increasingly important, says Vikør.
"In that context, Iran has increasingly been portrayed as Israel's most important enemy," he says.
At the same time, Iran expanded its regional influence by supporting groups such as Hezbollah and the Houthi movement, and by becoming involved in the civil war in Syria.
"Israel increasingly felt surrounded by governments and groups sympathetic to Iran, which led Israel to view Iran as a dangerous enemy," says Vikør.
Iran's nuclear programme has also been a major source of tension between the countries since the 1990s, according to the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia.
Dispute over Iran's nuclear activities
In 2015, Iran entered into a nuclear agreement with the United States and several other countries. The agreement involved easing sanctions against Iran in exchange for increased transparency and restrictions on its nuclear programme, according to the UN.
Iran claims that the purpose of the nuclear programme is to produce nuclear power, while other countries have been concerned that the goal is to produce nuclear weapons.
Vikør says the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme is central to the current conflict.
When Donald Trump became president, he withdrew the United States from the nuclear agreement in 2018 and reintroduced sanctions against Iran.
Iran has since enriched uranium to as much as 60 per cent, far above the level needed for nuclear power, according to the UN.
For nuclear power, the isotope uranium-235 must typically be enriched to about 4 per cent, while nuclear weapons require enrichment of around 90 per cent.
Representatives from the EU, Iran, the UK, and the USA after the nuclear agreement was negotiated in 2015.(Photo: Carlos Barria, Pool Photo via AP / NTB)
Different views on Iran's goals
"Iran still appeared to be some distance away from actually acquiring nuclear weapons," says Vikør.
One possible strategy was that Iran increased uranium enrichment as leverage to negotiate a better agreement.
"The question is whether this was a genuine step towards developing nuclear weapons or simply a way to apply pressure during negotiations. For Iran, the primary goal may have been to remove the economic sanctions rather than to obtain and use nuclear weapons," the historian says,
That is one interpretation, says Vikør. Another is that Iran has always wanted to acquire nuclear weapons.
In 2025, Israel and the United States bombed nuclear facilities in Iran.
Before the war that began in February, negotiations were underway in which the USA demanded that Iran stop its nuclear programme, missile development, and support for militant groups in the region, according to the Norwegian broadcasting corporation NRK.
Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of Defence, has stated that the objective of the war is to destroy Iran's missile production, naval capacity, and to ensure that is never obtains nuclear weapons.
