Iran–United States relations

Iran took a huge step to ending its international isolation Jan. 16 as sanctions on the Islamic republic were lifted following the entry into force of last July's momentous nuclear deal with major powers.

US Secretary of State Kerry taps the personal relationship he has formed with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif during the negotiations on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, for setting 10 US Navy sailors free after they were detained when their boats drifted into Iranian watersIt turned out to be the international crisis that wasn't.

Iran unveiled a new underground missile depot on Jan. 5 with state television showing Emad precision-guided missiles in store which the United States says can take a nuclear warhead and violate a 2010 U.N. Security Council resolution.

The White House has delayed imposing new financial sanctions on Iran over its ballistic-missile program, The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 31. 

Iranian Revolutionary Guards launched rockets near the U.S. aircraft-carrier Harry S. Truman and other warships as they were entering the Gulf on Dec. 26 , giving only brief notice in a "highly provocative" act, a U.S. military spokesman said on Dec. 29.

A ship carrying more than 25,000 pounds (around 11,000 kg) of low-enriched uranium materials left Iran for Russia on Dec. 28 in an Iranian step toward honoring a July 14 nuclear deal with major powers, the United States said. 

President Vladimir Putin on Monday lifted a ban on Russian firms from working on Iranian enrichment sites as he travelled to Tehran for his first visit since 2007.    

An Iranian court has sentenced Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian to a prison term, the state news agency said on Nov. 22 quoting the judiciary spokesman, a case that is a sensitive issue in contentious U.S.-Iranian relations.

European authorities have taken action to shut down a cyber espionage operation linked to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard in the first operation of its kind since Tehran signed a nuclear treaty, according to security researchers who located computers used to launch attacks.

Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a post-row summit on Nov 9, hoping a massive 10 year defense deal will help them move beyond a bitter public fight that shook a decades-old alliance.