Why have US-Iran relations been so bad?
2 Answers
They imposed sanctions that weakened the economy of Iran.
The Islamic government of Iran has existed since 1979 and there has been a bit of back and forth since then. The US supported the Shah in the previous government. You might need to clarify a bit.
Explanation:
Rebellious Students took over the US Embassy in 1979 holding many Embassy staff hostage. US-Iran relations have never been very good since. Iran is a polarizing force in the middle east. The people are mostly Persian rather than Arabic. The Shi'a Sect is in the majority in Iran as well putting it a odds with Sunni majority countries like Saudi Arabia. Much of the present middle eastern conflict is due to the Saudi Arabian-Iranian and Sunni-Shi'a conflict.
US support of Israel is an ongoing problem. Iranian pursuit of nuclear arms has been an ongoing problem. Much of the present day tension is related to the nuclear issue on top of a lot of historic issues. The Obama administration made a deal to remove sanctions.
The Iran Contra scandal was a bizarre sideline during the 1980s which shows how far governments, who are not really talking to one another, can go in desperate times.
The Iranian government is controlled by a number of pretty tight lipped holy men with a lot of louder people with limited power as window dressing so it is often difficult to tell what is going on there.
