Key Highlights
- Here’s a short history of the relationship.
- An emotional bond At the beginning of the 20th century, Iran, then known as Persia and ruled by the Qajar dynasty, struggled to safeguard its sovereignty against the powerful British and Russian Empires.
- As the US had no colonial history in West Asia and asserted its commitment to self-determination, Iran viewed Washington as a “natural ally” that could provide technical expertise without demanding territory.
- Howard Baskerville, a young Princetonian teacher who relocated to Tabriz, joined the pro-democracy constitutional revolution in Iran during this period.
- Baskerville was killed in 1909.
