2006-2011: The UN Security Council unanimously passes six resolutions against Iran, imposing sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program, conventional weapons, ballistic missiles and drones, as well as travel bans and asset freezes against the regime’s military, paramilitary, and nuclear officials and organizations.

2009: President Obama sends Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei two letters offing to improve relations through cooperation and regional bilateral relations. Khamenei officially rejects the overtures, and President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad responds in his place.

2012-2013: The United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and China (P5+1) start quiet meetings and negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. Supreme Leader Khamenei officially bans direct Iranian talks with the United States, but Jake Sullivan conducts secret direct meetings with Iranian officials in Oman.

January 2014: The P5+1 and Iran reach an initial path forward to resolve Iran’s nuclear program, termed the Joint Plan of Action, which sets a path to negotiations on a more permanent resolution to Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for a reduction in U.S. economic sanctions.

February 2014-July 2015: Multilateral negotiations take place in Vienna with foreign ministers and working level negotiators ironing out all differences. Iran permits its diplomats to openly meet and negotiate with U.S. officials. The negotiators agree on a non-binding political agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, accompanied by UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which replaces and weakens the prior UN sanctions. The United States provides Iran with most of their requested concessions without receiving permanent denuclearization in return. All major restrictions on Iran expire between 2020-2031.

January 2016: Iran and U.S. conduct 5-for-5 prisoner exchange, with the U.S. also providing Iran $1.7 billion in ransom payment, $400 million in cash.

2017: The Trump Administration seeks European cooperation to renegotiate the JCPOA, without success. U.S. negotiators meet Iranian negotiators once to discuss consular/hostage issues.

May 2018: President Trump announces the United States will leave the JCPOA, begins policy of Maximum Pressure designed to have Iran agree to a deal that meets 12 Demands addressing Iran’s nuclear program, support for terror, ballistic missile program, and hostage taking. Supreme Leader Khamenei bans all direct Iranian negotiations with the United States.

November 2018: U.S. financial sanctions officially return on Iran and oil sanctions start coming into place, taking Iran’s legal oil exports from 2.5 million barrels per day down to 1.1 million.

May 2019: U.S. oil sanctions fully return on Iran, blocking all Iranian oil exports under U.S. law. The Iranian regime starts exceeding prior nuclear restraints and ratchets up nuclear escalations every two months through January 2020 when it ceases abiding by all its JCPOA commitments.

November 2019: U.S. conducts 1-for-1 prisoner exchange with Iran through Swiss intermediaries. U.S. and Iran conduct an additional 1-for-1 exchange in May 2020.

August 2020: United States moves to “snapback” UN sanctions back to stronger pre-2015 status. All other UN Security Council members reject the legal legitimacy of the snapback.

2018-2020: Iran rejects all U.S. attempts to engage in official negotiations over its nuclear program and enforces ban on any Iranian officials speaking with U.S. officials.

February 2021-March 2022: Biden Administration reverses Trump Administration’s snapback and lifts some restrictions on Iranian diplomatic officials in New York as olive branch for Iran to re-engage in negotiations. Original JCPOA countries restart negotiations in Vienna on having United States and Iran each return to JCPOA 2.0. Iran still maintains ban on direct U.S.-Iran talks, so European powers, Russia, and China ferry messages between United States and Iran. Negotiators reach 99% compromise on final text for U.S. and Iranian return to JCPOA.

March-June 2022: A combination of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accompanying sanctions complications, rising U.S. political opposition to U.S. concessions, and Iranian intransigence temporarily derails the talks.

July-September 2022: Negotiations resume on mutual return to JCPOA 2.0 and near an agreement, but Iran makes several new and extraneous demands preventing any final agreement. The U.S. and European powers break off talks after massive nationwide protests in Iran are brutally suppressed by the regime in Fall 2022.

June-September 2023: U.S. and Iran conduct secret negotiations via Omani intermediaries to reduce Iranian escalations in exchange for reduced U.S. sanctions enforcement. U.S. and Iran agree on a 4-for-4 prisoner swap, with the United States providing Iran a $6 billion ransom payment by unfreezing Iranian funds that had been locked in South Korean banks and providing Iran access to the funds transferred into Qatari bank accounts.

2022-2023: United States and Iran conduct secret direct talks through the U.S. Envoy for Iran and the Iranian Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Direct negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are still formally banned by Supreme Leader Khamenei.

October 2023-December 2024: Biden Administration announces cessation of talks with Iran after October 7 attack but maintains deconfliction channels through European intermediaries.