TEHRAN -- An Iranian 
parliamentarian has published a detailed historical account of more than seven decades of U.S. hostility toward Iran, stating that the roots of the animosity predate the 1979 Islamic Revolution and stretch back to the 1953 coup that overthrew Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadegh.
Mostafa Moeini-Arani, the representative for Kashan and Aran-Bidgol, wrote in a note published Sunday that any examination of the U.S.-Iran confrontation must begin with the August 19, 1953 coup, which he described as “a turning point in relations between the two countries whose political and social effects remain in the historical memory of the Iranian nation.”
The lawmaker recounted how the United States and Britain, through their intelligence agencies, backed the overthrow of Mossadegh’s government after he moved to nationalize Iran’s oil industry and reduce British control over its resources. 
The role of the CIA was later confirmed in declassified documents and official historical accounts. 
Moeini-Arani listed the consequences: the fall of a legitimate national government, the strengthening of Muhammad Reza Shah’s power, the weakening of democratic development, the expansion of American political and security influence within the Pahlavi state, and the formation of deep mistrust toward U.S. foreign policy among a significant part of Iranian society.
“From the 1953 coup onward, Washington treated the preservation of its strategic interests and the prevention of Soviet influence as more important than respect for Iran’s political independence and the legal process of its government,” Moeini-Arani wrote.
He then traced what he called a 25-year period of American support for the Pahlavi monarchy, including advanced weapons sales, security cooperation, and political backing. 
He noted that SAVAK, the Shah’s intelligence service, developed with training from foreign intelligence agencies including the United States and Israel, while arrests of opponents, restrictions on political freedoms, and torture of political prisoners characterized the period. 
“A significant part of the Shah’s opponents saw America not merely as a foreign ally but as the main supporter of the repressive political system of that era,” he wrote. “Washington’s support for an authoritarian government played a fundamental role in the formation of anti-American sentiment.”
Turning to the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the lawmaker said the United States gradually provided extensive intelligence, political, and economic support to Saddam Hussein’s regime while Iraq used chemical weapons against Iranian forces and civilians. 
He cited American intelligence support for Iraq, U.S. military actions against Iranian oil installations and vessels in the Persian Gulf, and intensified economic pressure as key examples of confrontation during that period.
Moeini-Arani singled out the downing of Iran Air Flight 655 on July 3, 1988, by the U.S. Navy warship USS Vincennes, 
which killed 290 people including 66 children on a flight from Bandar Abbas to Dubai. 
He called it “one of the most bitter events in the history of Iran-U.S. relations” and “one of the most important symbols of direct damage caused by American military actions to Iranian civilians.”
The lawmaker went on to describe the post-war period as one of expanding sanctions and a policy of containing the Islamic Republic, citing the 1995 sanctions imposed under President Bill Clinton, the 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, and President George W. Bush’s inclusion of Iran in the “axis of evil” in 2002. 
He noted that while some sanctions were tied to UN Security Council resolutions, Washington imposed far broader unilateral and extraterritorial measures that led to a decline in the value of the national currency, higher import costs, and difficulties in supplying goods.
On the nuclear file, Moeini-Arani said the 2015 JCPOA was followed by the Trump administration’s unilateral withdrawal in May 2018 and the reimposition of broad sanctions, even though the IAEA had reported Iran’s compliance up to that point. 
“This action was a sign of the unreliability of American commitments,” he wrote. He also cited the January 2020 U.S. drone strike in Baghdad that martyred General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the IRGC Quds Force, and his companions.
The lawmaker then addressed the two most recent wars, describing the 12-day aggression in June 2025 as one in which Israel launched wide attacks on military centers and nuclear facilities before the United States entered directly with strikes on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. 
He said the third war began on February 28, 2026, with joint and direct U.S.-Israeli attacks that expanded beyond military centers and infrastructure, led to the martyrdom of the Leader and a number of senior officials and civilians, and spread the war to the Persian Gulf region.
“America’s hostility toward the Iranian nation cannot be considered merely a dispute related to the years after the revolution,” Moeini-Arani said. 
“Its roots go back to the question of political independence, strategic interests, and the right of the Iranian nation to determine its own destiny.”