A sudden, wide-ranging attack by the United States and Israel this weekend dramatically raised the prospect of a broader regional war. In announcing the strikes, President Donald Trump vowed to crush Iran’s military capabilities, dismantle its nuclear program, and press for political change in Tehran, urging Iranians to “take over your government.” The president also announced that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in the strikes. Iran responded with multiple waves of ballistic missiles aimed at Israel; the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan — all hosts to U.S. forces — reported they were targeted as well.
To put these events in context, 60 Minutes revisited decades of its reporting on Iran, tracing a complex relationship shaped by oil, revolution, covert action, nuclear diplomacy, proxy warfare and assassination plots.
1974 — Oil and the Shah
Mike Wallace traveled to Tehran during the 1973–74 oil crisis to interview Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The Shah defended Iran’s rising oil revenues as “natural wealth” and portrayed himself as confident in popular support. Wallace’s reporting captured a nation flush with oil money but also shadowed by corruption and widening social tensions.
1976 — SAVAK and Repression
Wallace returned in 1976 to press the Shah about his secret police, SAVAK, and Iran’s ties to Israel. While the Shah denied overt torture “in the old sense” and insisted on modern methods of interrogation, Wallace documented growing unease over state repression.
1978–1979 — Unrest, Revolution and the Hostage Crisis
By late 1978 mass protests in Tehran made clear that discontent had reached a tipping point. The Shah soon left Iran, and militant forces seized the U.S. Embassy in November 1979, taking American hostages. Two weeks after the embassy takeover, Wallace interviewed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Qom. Khomeini tied the hostages’ fate to the fate of the Shah, and his interview reflected the revolutionary leadership’s uncompromising posture.
1980s — Roots of Anti‑American Sentiment
60 Minutes examined why many Iranians blamed the United States, highlighting the 1953 CIA-backed coup that ousted Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and restored the Shah’s rule. Reporting and later declassified material showed how U.S. support for the Shah and assistance in creating SAVAK fed long-term resentment.
1997 — Rafsanjani and Nuclear Questions
During a period of sanctions and suspicion, Mike Wallace interviewed President Hashemi Rafsanjani. Rafsanjani insisted Iran sought nuclear energy, not weapons, and resisted demands to make dramatic personal assurances: “Swearing is not needed. Those who swear are the ones who want to lie,” he said.
2007 — Ahmadinejad and International Pressure
Scott Pelley’s interview with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came amid UN demands over Iran’s uranium enrichment. Ahmadinejad pushed back against what he called heavy-handed interrogation-style questions and downplayed the strategic value of nuclear arms.
2015 — The JCPOA
In 2015 Iran and six world powers signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The deal required Iran to ship out most of its enriched uranium, disable key facilities and accept intrusive inspections in return for sanctions relief. Steve Kroft’s interview with President Hassan Rouhani captured Tehran’s cautious hope that détente might be possible, even as deep mistrust persisted. The U.S. later withdrew from the agreement in 2018.
2020 — Soleimani and Missile Retaliation
Tensions nearly escalated into open war after a U.S. drone strike killed Qasem Soleimani, the powerful commander of Iran’s Quds Force, in January 2020. Iran retaliated with ballistic missiles aimed at bases in Iraq; damage was reported at Al Asad airbase, though miraculously no U.S. troops were killed. 60 Minutes reporting underscored how close the region came to broader conflict and how fragile deterrence had become.
2021–2022 — Raisi, Sanctions and Mistrust
Ebrahim Raisi’s 2021 election came as sanctions remained in place after the U.S. exit from the JCPOA. In a 2022 interview with Lesley Stahl, Raisi said the United States had broken promises and that trust had been undermined: “The Americans broke their promises. They did it unilaterally… Now making promises is becoming meaningless.” He also reiterated Iran’s antagonism toward Israel.
2023 — Proxies and Extraterritorial Plots
Reporting in 2023 highlighted Iran’s use of proxies and covert operatives to intimidate, abduct and assassinate critics abroad, including alleged plots on foreign soil. Lesley Stahl and others documented attempts to target dissidents and journalists; the FBI warned New York-based activist Masih Alinejad about a suspected kidnapping plot. Former national security officials told 60 Minutes they believed the Revolutionary Guard had pursued overseas operations that sometimes involved hired intermediaries.
Through interviews with the Shah, Ayatollah Khomeini and successive Iranian presidents — Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad, Rouhani and Raisi — and through coverage of hostage crises, covert U.S. interventions, nuclear negotiations, missile strikes and assassination plots, 60 Minutes has traced the arc of Iran’s modern revolutionary state and its often fraught relations with the United States and the wider region. The recent strikes and missile exchanges are the latest chapter in a history shaped by mutual distrust, regional rivalry and recurring cycles of escalation.