Saturday, November 12, 2011
THEN
November 12, 1979, in response to a radical Islamic group’s taking of 66 American hostages at the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran on Nov. 4, U.S. President Jimmy Carter abruptly halts all importation of petroleum from Iran into the United States. Prior to the January 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran—in which the Shah of Iran is replaced by a clerical government headed by the Ayatollah Khomeini—the United States and Iran have a relatively friendly relationship. However, tensions reach a peak with the hostage taking, culminating in the White House severing diplomatic relations with Iran in April, 1980.
NOW
Today, there remains significant tension between Iran and the United States. Earlier this week, the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency released a report citing “credible” evidence that Iran conducted nuclear-bomb development operations as recently as 2010. In response to the report, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the claims “baseless” during a televised address. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is currently drafting legislation to impose new sanctions on Iran and the European Union is also considering imposing more financial sanctions of its own. Iran is currently under Security Council sanctions imposed between 2006 and 2010, in addition to multiple trade restrictions imposed by the U.S., Canada, Japan, the EU, and other countries. Iran is currently the second largest oil producer in the world, second only to Saudi Arabia.
