Existential Antagonism: Contradictions in US-Iran Relations at the Current Stage
- Identificator
- EDN: GUJJFT; УДК: 327(73+55)
- Authors
- Kochegurov Dmitry Aleksandrovich, PhD in Political Science, senior researcher, Institute for the U.S. and Canadian Studies n. a. Academician G. A. Arbatov, Russian Academy of Sciences. Russia, Moscow. AuthorID: 1033347. ORCID: 0000-0003-4955-033X. E-mail: d.kochegurov@iskran.ru ; Gasanov Kamran Nizami ogly, PhD in Political Science, senior lecturer, Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. Russia, Moscow. ORCID: 0000-0002-9338-5856. E-mail: gasanov-kn@rudn.ru
- Journal
- HERALD OF HUMANITARIAN EDUCATION №2 (42), 2026
- Section
- HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIP
- Pages
- 96-107
- Abstract
-
In January 2025, the WEF presented its "Global Risks Report", in which a potential armed conflict in the Middle East between the USA and Iran was named as one of the main threats. In February, shortly after his inauguration, US President D. Trump signed an executive order restoring the policy of maximum pressure on Iran. During his trip to the Middle East in May, D. Trump called Iran the most "destructive force" in the region. Relations deteriorated even further after the Iranian authorities threatened to attack the bases of the USA and its allies in the Middle East if the USA intervened in the "Twelve-Day War", after which, on June 22, the USA joined the conflict on the side of Israel and delivered a series of missile and bomb strikes against Iranian nuclear-programme facilities. D. Trump became the first US president to openly join Israel in an attack on an adversary. On February 28, 2026, the war of the USA and Israel against Iran began, also known as Operation Epic Fury. In this connection, the authors ask the question: is the mutual antagonism of the two states surmountable? Shedding light on the historical dynamics of these difficult relations, the authors see the essence of the work as tracing the origins and driving factors of the mutual antagonism of the USA and Iran. In analyzing the perception of Iran through the prism of strategic documents and acts, the presence of an anti-Iranian consensus in the USA at the level of the legislative branch and of the White House is taken into account. The reasons for the absence of a strong pro-Iranian lobby are identified.
- Keywords
-
antagonism
the Middle East
D. Trump
Iran
the USA.
- Recieved
-
20.04.2026
- Published
-
20.08.2026
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