Change over time -
- 1950s - Iranian nuclear program begins with help from the US
- 1968 - Iran signs non-proliferation treaty
- 1979 - Iranian Revolution, Iran becomes anti-US and US retracts support for nuclear program
- 1979 - Khomeini comes to power, nuclear program disbanded
- 1984 - Nuclear program secretly restarts
- 1989 - New supreme leader
- 1995 - Treaty signed with Russia to complete two reactors in Iran
- 1996 - Sanctions begin
- 2002 - Secret nuclear plants discovered in Iran
- 2003 - Portions of the nuclear program are suspended
- 2004 - Iran violates agreements, and agrees to a new one
- 2005 - New president elected, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a very conservative politician
- 2006 - Uranium enrichment restarts, heavy water plant opens, UN sanctions begin
- 2008 - US cyberattacks, nuclear talks go nowhere,
- 2009 - Officials disclose secret intel about a nuclear plant in Iran. Iran denies existence
- 2010 - UN declares evidence that Iran is building a bomb, Stuxnet leaks, more sanctions, key scientists killed by suicide bombings
- 2011 - Even more sanctions, Natanz (the plant that was cyberattacked) returns to regular operation
- 2012 - Suicide bomber kills another scientist, Natanz gains new centrifuges, talks fail, Iranian oil embargo, Israel declares 'red line', Iranian currency loses value
- 2013 - Sanctions increase again, more uranium found, Iranians hoard goods, sanctions for those who help Iran, even more sanctions toward Iran, Iran elects new president who is less conservative, Iran slows enrichment, direct US-Iran talks, talks progress well
- 2014 - Accord agreed upon, information turned over, deal outlined, talks extended, reactor redesigned to produce less plutonium, deadline grows closer, talks extended again
- 2015 - Agreement reached, tension over shipping
Over time, Iran has swung from pro-US, to anti-US, to very anti-US, and then to the more moderate government that Iran has today. Over time, this problem has picked up steam and moved faster and faster. More things started happening each year. Since about 2004, this problem really became a mainstream one, and not a sideshow to the other issues going on at the time. Sanctions started out relatively slowly, but grew faster and faster with each passing year. The real trend in this change is that the speed has increased dramatically.