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Iran and America: A forgotten friendship

There was a time when Iran and America were friends. Americans founded schools there, helped Iran handle financial crises and trained the country’s first generation of doctors. Could that happen again?

As President Donald Trump’s rhetoric against Iran heats up again, it is worth recalling a time when the two countries had a distinctly different relationship.

That time began in the 1800s, as American missionaries journeyed to what was then called Persia.

The missionaries helped build important institutions – schools, colleges, hospitals and medical schools – in Persia, many of which still exist.