The United States attributes the worsening of relations to the 1979–81 Iran hostage crisis, Iran's repeated human rights abuses since the Islamic Revolution, different restrictions on using spy methods on democratic revolutions by the US, its anti-Western ideology and its nuclear program.

On 1 October 2024, Iran launched a series of missiles at Israel. Israel then carried out more retaliatory strikes against Iran on 26 October. Several months later in June 2025, the Iran–Israel war began featuring similar missile and drone strikes being exchanged between the two countries at a heightened intensity.