The enemy has a new face in twenty-first century America. The menacing Russian of the Cold War era has been replaced by the extremist Arab, embodied by Iran. This post-Cold War shift in focus was as predictable as it was gradual, and developed well before the Cold War even began. US-Iran relations have a long and tumultuous history. Although they are not always characterized by hostility, it would be wrong to call them friendly. Today the stakes of this relationship are more important, and volatile, than at any time in these countries' involvement with each other, with the possible exception of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. Growing tensions across the Middle East, concerns due to Iran's nuclear program and the ever-present importance of oil trade in the global economy, put the United States and Iran, as the two most influential powers in their respective fields, under greater pressure than they should have faced . never find a way of rapprochement. Ideological differences and US involvement in Iranian affairs make the path to rapprochement long and uncertain, but it leads to the only win-win solution not only for the two countries involved, but for the global community as a whole. US interaction with Iran is older than Iran itself. , and was not created through diplomatic channels but through religious ones. The first notable American interaction with the Iranian people, then Persian, occurred in 1834 with the Presbyterian missionary Justin Perkins. Christian missionaries have been present in predominantly Islamic Iran since 1747, but Perkins was building on the work done by British East India Company missionaries who arrived in Iran in 1811 with the aim of not only finding converts but translating the Bible into For...... half of the sheet ......r. “The Iran Narrative: The Ideal Context of U.S. Foreign Policy Decision-Making Regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Iran and the Caucasus 17.1 (2013): 41-76. Premier of academic research. Network. May 3, 2014. Kashani-Sabet, Firoozeh. “American Crosses, Persian Crescents: Religion and the Diplomacy of US-Iran Relations, 1834-1911.” Iranian Studies 44.5 (2011): 607-625. Premier of academic research. Network. May 05, 2014.Kessler, Glenn. “In 2003, the United States rejected Iran's offer for dialogue.” Washington Post. June 18, 2006. Online. 03 May 2014PBS. "Chronology: A Modern History of Iran". PBS. February 11, 2010. Online.Sciutto, Jim. “Obama: Iran nuclear deal limits ability to create nuclear weapons.” CNN. November 24, 2013. Online. May 5, 2013White House. "Jimmy Carter and the Iran Hostage Crisis." White House Historical Association. Online. 05 May 2014. Works Cited