History
[edit]
Main article: History of Iran
For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Iranian history.
Prehistory[edit]
Main article: Prehistory of Iran
The earliest known presence of hominins in Iran dates to around 800,000 years ago, in the Middle Paleolithic. Many Middle Paleolithic sites have been discovered, mainly in the Zagros Mountains in western Iran and some sites associated with Neanderthals. The Zarzian culture is documented in Iran during the Epipaleolithic (25,000–11,500 years ago). Agriculture first appeared in Iran some 12,000 years ago alongside better-documented settlements in the Fertile Crescent. The Chogha Golan site featured early domestication of emmer wheat. The contemporary site of Ganj Dareh also features the earliest known domestication of goats around 10,000 years ago.
The ancient city of Susa, which would become the capital of Elam and later a capital city of the Achaemenid empire, was first settled in 4400–4200 BC, adjacent to the modern site of Shush, Iran.: 46–47  The Kura–Araxes culture (c. 3400 – c. 2000 BC) existed in northwestern Iran and the Caucasus.
Antiquity[edit]
Further information: Medes and Indo-Iranians
Chogha Zanbil is one of the few extant ziggurats outside of Mesopotamia and considered the best-preserved example in the world.
Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 4000 BC, including the Jiroft culture in southeastern Iran. Inscriptions in the Proto-Elamite script, which predates cuneiform, have been found from the early third millennium BC. The western part of the Iranian plateau participated in the traditional ancient Near East with Elam (3200–539 BC), and later with other peoples such as the Kassites, Mannaeans, and Gutians. The earliest Iranian peoples began to arrive from Central Asia in the 2nd millennium BC.
The Median dynasty ruled the earliest Iranian state. In 612 BC, Cyaxares and the Babylonian king Nabopolassar invaded Assyria and destroyed Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, which led to the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes later conquered and dissolved Urartu as well.
Achaemenid Empire[edit]
Main article: Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire, or the First Persian Empire, at its greatest extent
The Achaemenids united all Persian tribes under Cambyses I. Under his son, Cyrus the Great, the Achaemenids defeated the Medes and established the Achaemenid Empire, the largest-ever Iranian state. Cyrus conquered the Lydian and Neo-Babylonian empires, creating an empire far larger than Assyria. His son, Cambyses II (r. 530–522 BC), conquered the last major power of the region, ancient Egypt, causing the collapse of its twenty-sixth dynasty.
After the death of Cambyses II, Darius the Great (r. 522–486 BC) ascended the throne by overthrowing the Achaemenid monarch Bardiya. Darius' first capital was at Susa, and he started the building program at Persepolis. He improved the extensive road system, and during his reign the first recorded mentions are made of the Royal Road, a highway from Susa to Sardis.
In 499 BC, Athens supported a revolt in Miletus, resulting in the sacking of Sardis. This led to the Greco-Persian Wars, which lasted the first half of the 5th century BC. In the First Persian invasion of Greece, Persian general Mardonius re-subjugated Thrace and made Macedon a full part of Persia. Darius' successor Xerxes I (r. 486–465) launched the Second Persian invasion of Greece. At a crucial moment in the war, about half of mainland Greece was overrun by the Persians, including territories to the north of the Isthmus of Corinth. This was reversed by a Greek victory following the battles of Plataea and Salamis, during which Persia lost all of its footholds in Europe, and withdrew from it.
The empire entered a period of decline. From 334 BC to 331 BC, Alexander the Great defeated Darius III (r. 336–330 BC) in the battles of Granicus, Issus and Gaugamela, swiftly conquering the Achaemanid Empire by 331 BC. Alexander's empire collapsed after his death; his general, Seleucus I Nicator, tried to take control of Iran, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia. His empire was the Seleucid Empire.
Parthian and Sasanian empires[edit]
Main articles: Parthian Empire and Sasanian Empire
The Arsacids of Parthia, initially Seleucid vassals, originated as leaders of the Iranian Parni tribe in the northeastern steppes. The Parthians gradually challenged Seleucid rule over Iran, eventually securing control through the 142 BC conquest of Babylonia. Although fighting continued, the death of Antiochus VII Sidetes in 129 BC marked the collapse of the Seleucid Empire, which then lingered on as a rump state in Syria until conquered by the Roman Empire in the 60s BC.
The Sasanian Empire at its greatest extent c. 620, under the reign of Khosrow II
The Parthian Empire endured for five centuries, but civil wars destabilized it. Parthian power evaporated when Ardashir I revolted against the Arsacids and killed their last ruler, Artabanus IV, in 224 AD. Ardashir established the Sasanian Empire, which ruled Iran and much of Near East. At their zenith, the Sasanians controlled all of modern-day Iran and Iraq and parts of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as the Caucasus, the Levant, and parts of Central and South Asia.
The strong economic conditions left by Parthians allowed the Sasanians to build a powerful and distinctive economic state whose reputation spread well beyond its political frontiers and time. The Sasanian Empire was characterized by a complex and centralized government bureaucracy and the revitalization of Zoroastrianism as a legitimizing and unifying ideal.
Medieval period[edit]
Main articles: Iranian Intermezzo, Tahirid dynasty, Saffarid dynasty, Ziyarid dynasty, Samanids, Sajid dynasty, Sallarid dynasty, Ilyasids, Buyid dynasty, Kakuyids, Seljuk Empire, Khwarazmian Empire, and Ilkhanate
Most of the Sasanian Empire's lifespan was overshadowed by the frequent Byzantine–Sasanian wars, a continuation of the Roman–Parthian Wars. The last of these wars ultimately contributed to the empire's fall, which culminated with the Islamic conquest of Persia. The Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Sasanian Empire between 632 and 654.
Over time, the majority of Iranians converted to Islam. Most of the aspects of the previous Persian civilizations were not discarded, but rather absorbed by the new Islamic polity.
Early Islamic rule and regional resistance in Iran[edit]
After the fall of the Sasanian Empire in 651, the Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate adopted many Persian customs, especially the administrative and the court mannerisms. Arab provincial governors were undoubtedly either Persianized Arameans or ethnic Persians; certainly, Middle Persian remained the language of official business of the caliphate until the adoption of Arabic toward the end of the seventh century.
However, Iran was still not entirely under Arab control; the Daylam region was under the control of the Daylamites, Tabaristan was under Dabuyid and Paduspanid control, and Mount Damavand under Masmughan control. Arabs had invaded these regions several times but the regions' inaccessible terrain prevented a decisive result. The most prominent ruler of the Dabuyids, Farrukhan the Great (r. 712–728), managed to hold his domains during his long struggle against the Arab general Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, who was defeated by a combined Daylamite–Dabuyid army and forced to retreat from Tabaristan.
The Abbasid revolution and Iranian Renaissance[edit]
The Saffarid dynasty in 900 AD
A map of Iranian dynasties in the mid 10th-century
Anti-Umayyad insurrections were supported by non-Arab Islamic converts, who were resentful over being relegated to lower social standing. In 747–750, one of these insurrections grew into the Abbasid revolution, in which the Umayyads were replaced with the Abbasids, descendants of Muhammad's uncle, Abbas.
The political authority of the Abbasid caliphs diminished over the course of the 9th and 10th centuries. This led to the establishment of several independent Iranian dynasties, the ousting of Arab rulers from their scattered bastions across the country, and an Iranian cultural renaissance. The period between the collapse of Abbasid authority and the conquest of Iran by the Seljuk Turks in the 11th century is referred to as the "Iranian Intermezzo".
The Iranian Intermezzo saw the rise and fall of several major and minor dynasties. Among the most significant of these overlapping dynasties were the Tahirids in Khorasan (821–873); the Saffarids in Sistan (861–1003); and the Samanids (819–1005), originally at Bukhara. The Samanids eventually ruled an area from central Iran to Pakistan.
By the early 10th century, the Abbasids almost lost control to the growing Iranian faction known as the Buyid dynasty (934–1062). Since much of the Abbasid administration had been Persian, the Buyids were quietly able to assume real power in Baghdad. The Buyids were defeated in the mid-11th century by the Seljuq Turks, who continued to exert influence over the Abbasids.
Islamization and Persianization[edit]
The Islamization of Iran was a long process. As Persian Muslims consolidated their rule, the Muslim population rose from approximately 40% in the mid-9th century to close to 90% by the end of the 11th century. Historian Seyyed Hossein Nasr suggests that the rapid increase in conversion was aided by the Persian nationality of the rulers. Although Persians adopted the religion of their conquerors, over the centuries they worked to protect and revive their distinctive language and culture, a process known as Persianization. Arabs and Turks participated in this process.
Mongol invasions[edit]
See also: Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire and Mongol conquest of Persia and Mesopotamia
Territory of the Khwarazmian Empire on the eve of the Mongol conquests, c. 1215
In the early 13th century, the Mongols reached Iran. Bukhara was conquered in 1220 and the Khwarazmian Empire was destroyed. During 1220–21 Bukhara, Samarkand, Herat, Tus and Nishapur were razed, and the whole populations were slaughtered. Over the following decades, further conquests followed, culminating in the fall of Baghdad and end of the Abbasid Caliphate's rule in 1258.
After the death of Möngke Khan, the Mongol Empire was fractured by civil war, both over the succession of the next Great Khan and between nomadic traditionalists and the new settled princes of China and the Middle East. Kublai Khan was eventually universally recognized, but the empire was irreversibly fragmented. In much of the southwest of the empire, including Iran, power fell to Hulegu Khan, who had been made a deputy there under Möngke Khan. Hulegu was accepted as a legitimate ruler in Iran and was legitimized through a fatwa issued by the Shia scholar Ali ibn Tawus al-Hilli. Iran experienced a cultural renaissance under Ilkhanid rule. Ghazan Khan converted to Islam in the late 13th century, turning the state further away from the other Mongol realms.
After Ghazan's nephew Abu Said died in 1335, the Ilkhanate lapsed into civil war and was divided between several petty dynasties – most prominently the Jalayirids, Muzaffarids, Sarbadars and Kartids. The mid-14th-century Black Death killed about 30% of the country's population.
Timur and the rise of new powers[edit]
See also: Timurid conquests and invasions
Timur's empire and his military campaigns
Iran remained divided until the establishment of the Persianate Timurid dynasty in 1370. Its founder, Timur (r. 1370–1405), hailed from a Turkified tribe of Mongols. After establishing a power base in Transoxiana, Timur invaded Iran in 1381 and eventually conquered most of it. Timur's campaigns were known for their brutality; many people were slaughtered and several cities were destroyed.
In 1387, Timur ordered the complete massacre of Isfahan, killing 70,000 people. The Timurids maintained control of most of Iran until 1452, when they lost the bulk of it to the Qara Qoyunlu, who were conquered by the Aq Qoyunlu in 1468. Uzun Hasan and his successors were the masters of Iran until the rise of the Safavids.
Early modern period[edit]
Main articles: Safavid Iran, Afsharid Iran, Zand dynasty, Qajar Iran, Portuguese–Safavid wars, and Ottoman–Persian Wars
Safavid Iran (1501–1722) at its greatest extent
The Safavid Empire, founded by Ismail I (r. 1505–1524), is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history. While Safavid Iran predated the concept of the nation-state as such, it established the basis for the modern state of Iran. The Safavid dynastic period was one of the most important in Iranian history, as it reunified Iran as a cohesive entity under native rule and established Shia Islam as the official religion. The Safavids ruled from 1501 to 1722, and experienced a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736.
The Safavid state had a complex bureaucratic system of checks and balances, which ensured transparency and prevented fraud. This system was not intended to equalize power between branches of government, but to ensure total power of the shah. Legitimized by his bloodline as a sayyid, or descendant of Muhammad, the shah monitored the actions of government officials through reports provided by the superintendent of each department. Jean Chardin, French merchant and eventual ambassador to Iran, wrote that the Safavid shahs ruled their land with an iron fist and often in a despotic manner.
Complex rivalries in the region of Khorasan led to the Afghan Hotak dynasty invading Iran. In 1722, this conflict led to the collapse of the Safavid Empire after the siege of Isfahan. The brief interlude between 1722 and the rise of the Qajar dynasty in 1789–1796 was marked by widespread political turmoil in Iran and several rival attempts to establish power over the country. The Safavids failed to regain power and the Hotaks failed to establish control. The rival Afsharid and Zand dynasties were established by Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747) and Karim Khan (r. 1751–1779), respectively.
Nader Shah and the shifting balance of power[edit]
See also: Campaigns of Nader Shah
A map of the Afsharid Empire at its greatest extent, in 1741–1745
Nader Shah has been described as "the last great Asiatic military conqueror", and compared by some historians to Napoleon and Alexander the Great. His numerous campaigns created a great empire that, at its maximum extent, briefly encompassed all or part of modern-day Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Georgia, India, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Oman, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, the North Caucasus, and the Persian Gulf. However, his military spending had a ruinous effect on the Iranian economy.
Nader Shah's death was followed by a period of anarchy in Iran as rival army commanders fought for power. Nader's own family, the Afsharids, lost all but a small domain in Khorasan. The Zand family seized control of much of Iran in the 1750s. The Zand rulers never proclaimed themselves to be shahs, but as regents of Iran. They first staked their claim to power on behalf of the Safavid puppet Ismail III (r. 1750–1773) and then on behalf of the Iranian people.
Rise of the Qajar dynasty and foreign interference[edit]
Iran under the Qajar dynasty in the 19th century.
The Qajar dynasty gradually increased in power as they clashed with the Afsharids and the Zands for control of the land, culminating in Agha Mohammad Shah proclaiming himself ruler in 1789. Agha Mohammad defeated the Zand dynasty in 1794 and was officially crowned in 1796. Shortly thereafter, he captured and deposed the Afsharid Shahrokh Shah, reunifying Iran under a single ruler.
In the 19th century, Iran lost significant territories in the Caucasus to the Russian Empire following the Russo-Persian Wars. Meanwhile, Britain became involved in southern Iran to counter Russia's presence in the north, which posed a threat to British India. Amid this struggle for power, drought, shifting agricultural priorities, and poor governance culminated in the Great Persian Famine of 1870–1871. While the death toll is unknown, the famine killed a significant portion of Iran's population; between several hundred thousand and four million Iranians are believed to have died as a result.
20th century up to the Iranian Revolution[edit]
Main article: Pahlavi Iran
Constitutional Revolution and the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty[edit]
Reza Shah with then-Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi at Persepolis, c. 1939
The Persian Constitutional Revolution between 1905 and 1911 led to the establishment of an Iranian parliament. After the 1921 coup d'état, the Qajar dynasty was replaced with the Pahlavi dynasty. The dynasty was founded by Reza Shah, who established an authoritarian government that valued nationalism, militarism, secularism and anti-communism combined with strict censorship and state propaganda. Reza Shah introduced many socio-economic reforms, reorganizing the army, government administration, and finances. Reza Shah ruled for almost 16 years until 1941, when he was forced to abdicate by the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.
To his supporters, his reign brought "law and order, discipline, central authority, and modern amenities – schools, trains, buses, radios, cinemas, and telephones." However, his reign has been characterized as a corrupt police state which provided only surface level modernization.
World War II and post-occupation instability[edit]
Due in part to Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, the Iranian government expected Germany to win the war and establish a powerful force on the Russian-Iranian border. Iran rejected British and Soviet demands to expel German residents from its borders. In response, the two Allies invaded in August 1941 and easily overwhelmed the weak Iranian army in Operation Countenance.
Iran became the major conduit of Allied Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union. The purpose was to secure Iranian oil fields and ensure Allied supply lines through the Persian Corridor. Iran remained officially neutral. Reza Shah was deposed during the subsequent occupation and replaced with his young son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. At the 1943 Tehran Conference, the Allied "Big Three"—Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill—issued the Tehran Declaration to guarantee the post-war independence and boundaries of Iran.
Mosaddegh and the Shah's rule[edit]
See also: 1953 Iranian coup d'état
The coronation of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Iranian coronation, held in 1967
Mohammad Reza Shah and Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi of Iran with US President Jimmy Carter and King Hussein of Jordan in 1977
In 1951, under Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, the Iranian parliament voted to nationalize the British-owned oil industry, leading to the Abadan Crisis. Despite British pressure, including an economic blockade, nationalization continued. Mosaddegh was removed from power in 1952 but was quickly re-appointed by the Shah, due to a popular uprising in support of the premier. He forced the Shah into a brief exile in August 1953 after a failed military coup by Imperial Guard Colonel Nematollah Nassiri.
On 19 August, a successful coup was headed by retired army general Fazlollah Zahedi, aided by the US (CIA) and the British (MI6), known as Operation Ajax and Operation Boot to the respective agencies. The coup—with a black propaganda campaign against Mosaddegh—forced Mosaddegh from office. Mosaddegh was arrested and tried for treason. Found guilty, Mosaddegh had his sentence reduced to house arrest on his family estate while his foreign minister, Hossein Fatemi, was executed. Zahedi succeeded him as prime minister and suppressed opposition to the Shah, specifically from the National Front and the communist Tudeh Party.
From that time until the revolution, Iran was ruled as an autocracy under the Shah, with strong American support. Iran initiated economic, social, agrarian, and administrative reforms to modernize the country, which became known as the White Revolution. Many Islamic leaders criticized these initiatives, and the land reform had mixed results. By 1978, the Shah had become wildly unpopular among the Iranian people. Daily demonstrations destabilized the region, and the Shah established martial law to curb opposition. When hundreds of thousands of protestors persisted, security forces opened fire on the crowds in an incident that became known as Black Friday.
Islamic Revolution[edit]
Main article: Iranian Revolution
Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Iran after 14 years of exile in Turkey, Iraq and France on 1 February 1979.
The protests against the Shah grew to include more than 10% of the country; it is rare for revolutions to involve even 1% of a country's population. Frustration with the Shah was so great that even secular and leftist groups supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, despite sharing none of his political positions. Under increasing pressure, the Shah eventually fled Iran, charging the interim Regency Council with his duties until a new government was formed. Shapour Bakhtiar, the head of the council, invited Khomeini to return from exile. However, upon return, Khomeini pledged to defeat the interim government led by Bakhtiar and claimed to support free democratic elections. Violence broke out between the two factions, ultimately leading Bakhtiar to flee Iran in disguise.
On 31 March 1979, a referendum was held on whether to transition from a government of monarchy to an Islamic republic. The referendum was approved by a massive margin of 99.31%. It mandated the creation of an assembly to draft the new theocratic constitution, whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader in December 1979. Iran's modernizing, capitalist economy was replaced by populist Islamic economic and cultural policies. Industries were nationalized, laws and schools Islamized, and Western influence restricted.
Khomeini era, Iran–Iraq War, and leadership transition[edit]
See also: Aftermath of the Iranian Revolution and Iran–Iraq War
An Iranian soldier with gas mask during the Iran–Iraq War
The shah, now out of power, went to the US to seek cancer treatment after other countries denied him entry. Supporters of the revolution feared that this was a step toward a coup to reinstate the Shah's reign. On 4 November 1979, Iranian students seized US embassy personnel, labeling the embassy a "den of spies". 52 hostages were held for 444 days until January 1981. During the Cultural Revolution in Iran from 1980 to 1983, opposition to Islamic values was purged including through the 1981–1982 Iran massacres.
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein attempted to take advantage of the disorder of the revolution, the weakness of the Iranian military and the revolution's antagonism against Western governments. On 22 September 1980, the Iraqi army invaded Iran at Khuzestan, precipitating the Iran–Iraq War. The attack took revolutionary Iran by surprise. Although Hussein's forces made early advances, Iranian forces pushed the Iraqi army back into Iraq by 1982.
Khomeini sought to export the revolution westward into Iraq, especially to Iraq's Shi'a Arab majority. The war continued until 1988, when Khomeini "drank the cup of poison" and accepted a truce mediated by the UN. The war, which ended in a stalemate in 1988, killed approximately 500,000 people. During the war, Saddam extensively used chemical weapons against Iranians.
Khamenei era[edit]
Further information: 2009 Iranian presidential election protests, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Assassination of Qasem Soleimani, Mahsa Amini protests, 2024 Iran–Israel conflict, Twelve-Day War, 2025–2026 Iranian protests, 2026 Iran War, Assassination of Ali Khamenei, and 2026 Iranian supreme leader election
On his deathbed in 1989, Khomeini appointed a 25-man Constitutional Reform Council, which named Ali Khamenei as the next Supreme Leader, and made changes to Iran's constitution. While Khamenei lacked Khomeini's "charisma and clerical standing", he developed a network of supporters within the armed forces and its economically powerful religious foundations.
Ali Khamenei at the Great Conference of Basij members at Azadi Stadium, October 2018
President Akbar Rafsanjani concentrated on a pro-business policy of rebuilding the economy, without breaking with the ideology of the revolution. He supported a free market, favoring privatization of state industries and a moderate position internationally. In 1997, Rafsanjani was succeeded by moderate reformist Mohammad Khatami, whose government advocated freedom of expression, constructive diplomatic relations with Asia and the EU, and policy that supported a free market and foreign investment.
The 2005 presidential election brought conservative populist and nationalist candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. He was known for his hardline views, nuclearization, and hostility towards Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UK, US and other states. He was the first president to be summoned by the parliament to answer questions regarding his presidency. In 2013, centrist and reformist Hassan Rouhani was elected president. He encouraged personal freedom, access to information, and improved women's rights. He improved diplomatic relations through exchanging conciliatory letters.
In 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was reached in Vienna, between Iran, the P5+1 (UN Security Council + Germany) and the EU. The negotiations centered around ending the economic sanctions in exchange for Iran's restriction in producing enriched uranium. In 2018, the US under President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal and new sanctions were imposed. This nulled the economic provisions and brought Iran to nuclear threshold status.
In 2020, IRGC general Qasem Soleimani, the 2nd-most powerful person in Iran, was assassinated by the US, heightening tensions between them. Iran retaliated against US airbases in Iraq, the largest ballistic missile attack ever on Americans; 110 sustained brain injuries. On 8 January, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing 176 civilians and leading to nation-wide protests. An international investigation led to the government admitting to the shootdown by a surface-to-air missile.
Hardliner Ebrahim Raisi lost a presidential bid in 2017, but ran again in 2021, succeeding Rouhani. During Raisi's term, Iran intensified uranium enrichment, hindered international inspections, joined SCO and BRICS, supported the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and restored relations with Saudi Arabia. In April 2024, an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus killed an IRGC commander. Iran retaliated with UAVs, cruise and ballistic missiles; 9 hit Israel. It was the largest drone strike in history, biggest missile attack in Iranian history, its first ever direct attack on Israel and the first time since 1991 that Israel was directly attacked by a state.
In May 2024, Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash, and Iran held a presidential election, when reformist and former Minister of Health, Masoud Pezeshkian, was elected. In October, Iran launched 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah and Abbas Nilforoushan. Israel struck Iranian military sites. In May 2025, Iran's government ordered a mass deportation of an estimated four million Afghan migrants and refugees living in Iran.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with Saudi Arabia's Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman and Major General Mohammad Bagheri on 17 April 2025
The weakening of Iran's key allies and proxies since 2023 left Iran's government weakened and isolated. In early 2025, Iran was rapidly advancing its nuclear program. Analysts warned such activity exceeded any plausible civilian justification. Iran and the United States entered negotiations for a new nuclear agreement, but progress stalled. In June, IAEA found Iran non-compliant with its nuclear obligations; in response, Iran announced activation of a new enrichment facility.
On 13 June 2025, Israel launched strikes across Iran, targeting nuclear facilities and killing top members of Iran's military leadership. Iran retaliated with missile strikes, and hostilities resulted in direct conflict between them. On 22 June, the US struck the Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran attacked US bases in Qatar as a result. On 24 June, Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire after insistence from the US.
Since December 2025, Iran has had mass demonstrations across cities calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, sparked by frustration over the economic crisis. As of 13 January 2026[update], Iran International estimated that at least 12,000 protesters had been killed amidst the internet blackout, as government security forces escalated their use of lethal force against demonstrators. As of 17 January 2026[update], estimates suggested that at least 16,500 people had been killed and approximately 330,000 injured in the 2026 Iran massacres.
On 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel conducted coordinated military strikes against multiple targets in the Islamic Republic of Iran, marking a significant escalation in long-standing tensions between Tehran and the U.S.–Israel alliance. That same day, Ali Khamenei was assassinated as part of a series of Israeli airstrikes aimed at high-ranking Iranian officials. Khamenei's death was confirmed by the Iranian government on 1 March. On 8 March, the 88-person Assembly of Experts announced that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ali Khamenei, was elected Supreme Leader in a "unanimous vote".
