History of U.S.-Iran relations

The US strikes on nuclear facilities in three Iranian cities come after decades of tension between Iran and the United States.

The tension rooted in events like the American and British-led 1953 coup to overthrow Iran's elected prime minister, the 1979 Iran hostage crisis with 52 Americans from the US Embassy in Tehran held for 444 days, and the 1983 attack on marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 American service members and led to the state department officially designating Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.

In more recent history, the tension has centered around the oil trade and whether Iran is developing nuclear capabilities.

In 2015, the US and other world powers reached a landmark nuclear deal with Iran following years of negotiation. The deal restricted Iran's nuclear enrichment program, aimed at preventing it from developing nuclear weapons.

Two years later, President Trump withdrew from the deal, saying he believed the deal was defective at its core.

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Last week, US ally, Israel, launched attacks in Iran, claiming that its nuclear capabilities were an imminent threat, prompting Iran to carry out retaliatory strikes in Israel.

In recent days, the Trump Administration said they were working to negotiate a new deal with Iran to limit their nuclear development, however Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Iranian officials were stonewalling, prompting President Trump to authorize the largest B-2 operational strike in history; marking the first use of MOPS, massive ordinance penetrators, weapons believed only to exist in the US.

Known as "bunker busters," the MOPS were able to reach nuclear facilities hundreds of feet underground in Iran.