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Records of the 1953 coup were believed to have been already destroyed by the CIA, the archive said. The CIA said at time that its "safes were to full."
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Iran joins the US-backed Baghdad Pact, known as the Central Treaty Organisation modelled after Nato and designed to contain Soviet expansion
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A religious leader and fierce critic of the shah begins what would be 14 years of exile in Irag
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The US-backed Shah is forced to flee to Egypt
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Khomeini returns from exile and seizes power.
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In a war that would last for the next eight years, Western-backed Iraq invades Iran.
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The last 52 hostages are freed a few hours after Jimmy Carter, the then US president, leaves office. They were held for 444 days.
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Iraq invades Kuwait
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The US accuses Iran of being directly involved in the bombing of an American military base in Saudi Arabia, evoking an angry rejection of the charges by Tehran.
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Khamanei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, says relations could be restored with the US in the future. The US accuses Iran of harassing US Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
