2008 – IAEA calls Iran’s uranium

enrichment a ‘serious concern’

The International Atomic
Energy Agency releases a
report saying Iran’s
suspected research into the
development of nuclear
weapons remained “a matter
of serious concern.”
European Union nations
agree to impose new
sanctions against Iran.
 2009 – Obama administration agrees to
talks with Iran
The Obama administration
announced it would participate in
talks with Iran and the United
nation’s five permanent
members, breaking from the Bush
administration. The talks
eventually led to the Iran nuclear
deal, also known as the JCPOA,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action.
June – July, 2010 – U.S. and allies impose
new sanctions
The U.N., U.S. and the
European Union place further
sanctions on Iran for its
uranium enrichment activity.
June 15, 2013 – Rouhani is elected
Hassan Rouhani, who was
described as a moderate,
is elected president of
Iran.
 September 27, 2013 – Obama calls
Rouhani
President Barack Obama called
Iranian President Rouhani, which
was the highest level of contact
between the U.S. and Iran since
1979. The two discussed Iran’s
nuclear program on the call.
January 2014 – Beginnings of a nuclear
deal reached
Iran and the five U.N. permanent member nations reach an initial
agreement regarding Iran’s nuclear program. In the coming months the
first steps of that deal were implemented and negotiations for a more
comprehensive plan continued.
March 2015 – Civil war breaks out in
Yemen
Civil war breaks out in Yemen when a Saudi-led coalition launches
airstrikes against Houthi rebels who have taken control of the capital
city of Sana’a. The Houthis are supported by Iran, and Saudi Arabia, a
U.S. ally in the Middle East, supports the Yemeni government. The
U.S. sells weapons to Saudi Arabia, which are then used in the armed
conflict. Five years later, the U.S. will try and fail to kill a senior Iranian
military commander in Yemen the same day it successfully killed an
Iranian general in Iraq.
July 14, 2015- U.S., Iran and other nations
announce nuclear deal
Iran, the U.S. and the four other U.N. permanent members announce
they have reached a comprehensive deal regarding Iran’s nuclear
program. Iran agrees to limit its uranium enrichment and allow
international inspectors into the country in exchange for the lifting of
sanctions.
July 14, 2015- U.S., Iran and other nations
announce nuclear deal

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Secretary of Energy
Ernest Moniz, along with other national leaders, pose for a group picture at the United Nations building in
Vienna, Austria July 14, 2015. Iran and six major world powers reached a nuclear deal. Photo by Carlos
Barria/Reuters
July 16, 2016 – Lifting of sanctions
The U.S. and Europe lifted sanctions on Iran as promised in the nuclear
deal. The very next day, the Obama administration issued new
sanctions against 11 people and companies with links to Iran’s ballistic
missile program.
2017 – Trump extends sanctions waivers
The Trump
administrati
on 
renewed san
ctions waive
rs
 that were
part of the
Iran nuclear
deal.
May 8, 2018 – U.S. withdraws from the
Iran nuclear deal
President Donald Trump announces the U.S. will 
withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement and implements a
“maximum-pressure campaign” in an attempt to force Iran to negotiate
a new deal. In response, Iran says it will exceed the caps for uranium
enrichment as outlined in the Iran nuclear deal. International nuclear
watchdogs later confirm Iran has exceeded the limits.
April 8, 2019- Trump designates the IRGC
a terrorist organization
The Trump administration announces it will 
designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign
Terrorist Organization. It is the first time the U.S. declares part of
another nation’s government as a terrorist organization.
 May – October 2019 – U.S.-Iran tension
ramp up amid attacks on oil tankers
A series of attacks on oil tankers
 near the Strait of Hormuz spark
increased tensions between the
U.S. and Iran. The U.S. blames
Iran for attacks on oil tankers
that were sailing under the Saudi
Arabian, Japanese, Panamanian
and British flags. In response, the
U.S. attempts to seize an Iranian
oil tanker.
 November 2019 – Iranians riot over
economic concerns
Over the course of four days,
Iranians riot in the streets in
opposition to an increase in oil
prices. Amnesty International
estimates more than 300 people
were killed in the government’s
crackdown on the demonstrations.
The Trump administration sharply
criticizes the Iranian government
for how it handles the protests.
 December 31, 2019 – Militia members
attack U.S. embassy in Baghdad
Iraqi demonstrators and Iran –
backed militia members 
break into the U.S. embassy in
Baghdad and set fires in
response to the American
airstrike that killed members
of an Iran-backed militia the
previous weekend.
January 3, 2020 – U.S. kills Gen. Soleimani
U.S. 
kills Iran’s top gen
eral
Qassem Soleimani
 as well as Iraqi
militia leader Abu
Mahdi al-
Muhandis in a
drone strike at a
Baghdad airport.
January 8, 2020 – Iran strikes bases in
Iraq housing U.S. soldiers
Iran launches missiles on two bases in Iraq where U.S. soldiers are
stationed in retaliation for Soleimani’s killing; no casualties are
reported. The same morning, a Ukrainian airliner crashes after taking
off from Iran. A U.S. official says Iran shot down the plane with two
Russian surface-to-air missiles.
 January 9, 2020 – U.S. retaliates with
sanctions
Trump announces his
administration will impose new
sanctions on Iran in response to
the missile strike. The next day,
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
and Treasury Secretary Steve
Mnuchin outline the details of
the sanctions, which target the
construction, manufacturing,
mining, and textiles industries.
The sanctions also name eight
Iranian officials.
 January 11, 2020 – Iran admits it shot
down a civilian plane
Iran admits it shot down the Ukrainian airliner by mistake. The admissions 
sparks protests in Tehran and elsewhere against Iranian leaders.
Iranian Airline 655 vs Ukraine Airlines Flight
752
Canadians have been questioning who is at fault for the downing last Wednesday of a plane
carrying passengers from Canada, Iran and other nations.

Over the weekend, Iran admitted accidentally shooting down the Ukraine International Airlines
Flight 752, killing all 176 on board.

But some prominent figures in Canadian business and media have pinned part of the blame on
the United States. They say the U.S. provoked Iran by killing a top Iranian commander, Maj. Gen.
Qassem Soleimani.

Michael McCain, the billionaire CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, tweeted late Sunday that he was "very
angry." Were the passengers "collateral damage of this irresponsible, dangerous, ill-conceived
behavior?" he asked.
Iranian Airline 655 vs Ukraine Airlines Flight
752
Charles Adler, a popular Canadian conservative
talk-radio host, would not let Tehran or
Washington off the hook.

"Iran's recklessness comes in response to the

United States-ordered killing of Iran's architect of
terror, the head of their special Quds Force, Gen.
Soleimani," Adler said in a recent show. "I'll go to
my grave believing those innocents who died
aboard Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752 would not
have died had it not been for Trump's decision to
kill the general."
Iranian Airline 655 vs Ukraine Airlines Flight
752
Speaking to CBC, Scott Gilmore said, "I
did see a direct line between the
impeachment and the president
afterwards being outraged at how
unfairly treated he saw himself and
continually trying to change the topic
to the economy or to the strength of
the U.S. military." It was a change of
topic, Gilmore said, that led to the U.S.
killing of Soleimani and resulted in Iran
downing Flight 752.
Iranian Airline 655 vs Ukraine Airlines Flight
752
But many in Canada's political and military establishment see the events
differently.

"This is a failure of Iranian military planning," says retired Maj. Gen. David
Fraser, who led Canadian combat operations during the war in Afghanistan.
Iranian military leaders "knew they were going to strike into Iraq, they were
going to put their air defense systems on high alert, and they didn't coordinate
with the civilian authorities. So that's just a failure of the Iranian command
control structure to manage their airspace," he says.

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/13/796052702/some-canadians-are-angry-at-th
e-u-s-over-irans-downing-of-flight-752
US-Saudi Relations
BRIEF OVERVIEW
Saudi Arabia and the United States have a relationship that stretches back almost a century,
since the 1933 kickoff of oil exploration in the kingdom.
Since then, the two countries have maintained a baseline of economic and security cooperation
that has kept ties between them strong. Saudi Arabia is the US' largest foreign military sales
customer, and the US has long had a physical and advisory military role in the kingdom.
While today there seems to be a strategic alignment between Saudi Arabia's interests in the
region and those of the US, mostly centering around controlling Iran's regional reach, there
have been low points in this relationship that were brought about by major events. Saudi
Arabia has always sought balance between its role as a leader in the Arab world and its strong
ties to the US.
During the final years of the Obama administration, "relations had undergone a period of
difference of opinion", as stated by a senior advisor to Prince Salman last March. These
differences of opinion were largely centered around Saudi Arabia's refusal to engage with Iran
and the Obama administration's cautions to the kingdom about the civilian toll of the war in
Yemen.
BRIEF OVERVIEW
However, under the Trump administration, relations have warmed and the US is fully
supporting Saudi Arabia in its regional role.
President Trump had maintained an extremely negative view of Saudi Arabia for
years before being sworn in as president, saying that he was "definitely not a big fan"
of the kingdom, and that the US should not be working to "support Saudi terrorists".
This position changed, underlined by an extremely cordial visit that that Deputy
Crown Prince and Minister of Defense of Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed bin Salman
made to Washington, DC.
In a statement after this meeting, bin Salman's senior advisor's statement touched
on the various topics discussed, which included an expansion of economic
cooperation, an agreement that Trump's travel ban was justified and was not a
"Muslim ban", and the two leaders' agreement on "the same views on the gravity of
the Iranian expansionist moves in the region".
1933 - EXPLORING FOR OIL
Standard Oil of California is granted a
concession to explore for oil in Saudi
Arabia. Its subsidiary that began the
exploration, California Arabian Standard
Oil Company (CASOC), later came to be
known as the Arab American Company
(ARAMCO). CASOC strikes oil in 1938.
Abdullah Sulaiyman, Saudi finance
minister, and Lloyd N. Hamilton, lawyer
and negotiator for Socal, sign the historic
oil concession agreement on May 29,
1933, in Khuzam Palace, Jeddah.
1940 - ESTABLISHING FORMAL
RELATIONS
The US and Saudi Arabia
establish full diplomatic
relations with official
acceptance of the first
American envoy to Saudi
Arabia. The US Embassy
opened its doors in Jeddah
for the first time in 1944,
with Saudi Arabia's first
ambassador to the US
taking up his duties in 1945.
1945 - LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR
DECADES-LONG PARTNERSHIP
King Abdulaziz meets US President
Franklin D Roosevelt on board the
USS Murphy in the Suez Canal to
cement ties between the two
countries. Two core themes that
emerged from this meeting
helped shape the decades-long
partnership: security and oil. By
this date, the US has already
requested access to build a
military base in Dhahran, Saudi
Arabia.
1950 - ARAMCO AGREEMENT
Saudi Arabia and ARAMCO agree to a 50/50 profit sharing split in oil
sales.
1951 - MUTUAL DEFENSE
ASSISTANCE AGREEMENT
The Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement is signed, providing the
basis for US arms sales to Saudi Arabia and for a permanent US military
training mission in Saudi Arabia. The construction of military
installations in the kingdom begins.