Understanding the US-Iran Conflict and Why It’s Easing

US President Joe Biden came to power in 2021 pledging to work toward returning the US to an era of diplomacy with Iran, after four years of his predecessor’s campaign of “maximum pressure” produced a period of escalating tensions between the two. Early efforts failed to return the two nations to complying with the 2015 international agreement under which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear work in exchange for relief from economic sanctions imposed by countries worried it was trying to develop a nuclear bomb. More recently, the US and Iran have worked quietly to reach understandings on a number of matters, lessening strains between the adversaries.

Through intermediaries including Oman and Qatar, Iran and the US worked out a prisoner exchange. Iran released five Americans Sept. 18, in exchange for a commitment by the US to release the same number of Iranians. Also, the US agreed to facilitate South Korea’s transfer of $6 billion in frozen assets back to Iran to be used for medicine and humanitarian goods. Iran is now selling more oil to China than it has in a decade, in part because the US has reduced its focus on sanctions enforcement in an effort to keep oil prices low amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Saudi Arabian efforts to restrict supply. While reviving the 2015 nuclear deal isn’t on the table, there’s talk of limiting Iran’s uranium enrichment, an important concern for the US.