But the US-Iran rivalry didn't start then - it has been a fractious relationship for decades, spanning several US presidents.
In our latest episode of Sky News Explains, Olive Enokido-Lineham looks at the key moments in US-Iran history, examines the complicated geopolitics of the region, and tries to find out how it could all end.
Watch the full episode at the top of this article.
Before re-launching Sky News Explains, Olive specialised in verification and open-source investigations (OSINT). Her stories include investigations into the war in Gaza, to verifying videos from Ukraine and Syria.
Olive also produced the Sky News documentary Escaping Putin, which follows a Russian soldier who fled from the army.
The 52-year-old was taken to hospital after being found in a pool of blood following an alleged attack by an unknown inmate on 26 February.
The former school caretaker was attacked in a workshop with a metal bar at HMP Frankland in County Durham.
Police said earlier that a man in his mid-40s was being investigated over the incident.
Huntley was convicted of the murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002.
He killed them after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets, then dumped their bodies in a ditch.
Huntley was convicted of the murder of both girls in December 2003 and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment.
Durham Constabulary confirmed Huntley had died in hospital on Saturday morning.
"Ian Huntley, 52, was taken to hospital with serious injuries following an incident in the workshop on the morning of Thursday, February 26," a spokesman said.
"A police investigation into the circumstances of the incident is ongoing.
"A file is being prepared for the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration for charges."
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "The murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman remains one of the most shocking and devastating cases in our nation's history, and our thoughts are with their families."
According to The Sun, the attack last month left Huntley blind, and he was not expected to regain consciousness.
The newspaper quoted a source as saying: "Huntley never recovered from the battering and never stood much of a chance of doing so."
After the attack, the murderer's only daughter, Samantha Bryan, 27, told The Sun on Sunday that "there's a special place in hell waiting for him".
Huntley had been injured in a previous attack at HMP Frankland in 2010, where an inmate slashed his throat with a makeshift knife. The prisoner was jailed for life over the incident.
The crime made Huntley one of Britain's most reviled killers, with the murder shocking the nation and raising questions about how a man with a history of sexual allegations against him had been allowed to work at a school.
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The best friends were dressed in matching Manchester United shirts when he lured them into his home and killed them.
Their bodies were not found for 13 days, with their disappearance and the resulting police search drawing national media attention.
Reporter Brian Farmer, who worked for the Press Association in East Anglia at the time, interviewed Huntley at the time and was so concerned by what he heard, he went to the police afterwards.
Farmer was surprised when Huntley began to tell him how he imagined the girls would react to a stranger approaching them, despite not knowing them or working in their school.
The journalist had been trying to interview Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant at the girls' school, who was living with Huntley when the interaction took place.
There has been considerable speculation about the calls and their content, which has led to rumours and claims about the Kurds launching a ground operation into Iran.
Sky News can reveal that Mr Trump did not ask Kurdish armed groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan to launch a ground incursion into Iran when he spoke to political leaders on the phone, and there is no covert CIA operation currently under way to arm the groups.
My source, who is a high-ranking and trusted member of the Iraqi Kurdistan political elite, has intimate knowledge of the details of the phone call between Mr Trump and Bafel Talabani - head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
This person spoke to me on the condition of anonymity and said the phone call between the two men happened last weekend, when the war began and lasted around 10 minutes.
In the call, the US president thanked Mr Talabani and the Kurdish forces for assisting the American military in northern Iraq and in Syria over many years.
"Mr Trump was phoning to express his thanks, and his need for his [Mr Talabani's] wisdom, experience, and his relations in the region."
"He didn't ask for anything, he didn't suggest they invade anywhere and didn't discuss arms or the CIA in any way," the source added.
In the lengthy in-person conversation, the source told me that reports of pressure being applied on Kurdish leaders by Mr Trump to cross the border, and reports of active CIA involvement in a plan on the ground are "an outright lie, it didn't happen".
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They confirmed that Mr Trump also had a brief phone call with Masoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
"Again, President Trump asked for nothing, it was a very brief call," they said.
They added: "There were only these two phone calls to Kurdish leaders here."
This new information counters claims originating in American media that suggested the Trump administration asked the Kurds to launch a ground offensive into Iran, with CIA assistance, to create a popular uprising.
The source told me this was not covered in the phone call, and that Mr Talabani did not get that impression.
Bafel Talabani, who grew up in Croydon in south London as a refugee, is the son of the former president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani. He is well-known in the Middle East for keeping good relations with all the major players.
"If he speaks to one side, he always also speaks to the other," the source said.
"His overriding conviction is to protect Kurdistan and its people - that is all."
Iranian Kurdish groups living in exile in Iraqi Kurdistan have told Sky News in recent days that they would welcome an incursion into Iran to ferment regime change and are actively hoping for American military support, particularly air cover if they cross the border.
But the source said it would be "suicide" for Iranian Kurds to cross the border without specific American assurances and support.
As things stand, they said, there is nothing to indicate that any type of firm agreement or plan has been made.
But as this war evolves by the day, that could, of course, change.
The number of dead includes two children, the region's governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Mr Syniehubov said the ballistic missile damaged a five-storey residential building in Kharkiv.
More than 15 people were also injured in the strike, including three children, officials said.
Rescuers have begun clearing the rubble and continue their search for more people who may have been buried when the building collapsed.
The impact destroyed the entrance and damaged the upper floors of a neighbouring building.
The deaths came as Russia unleashed a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight on Saturday.
Across the city, 19 residential buildings, electricity distribution lines, commercial and administrative premises and cars were also damaged by the Russian attacks, Mr Syniehubov said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had launched 480 drones and 29 missiles targeting vital infrastructure across the country.
He said most of the drones were Shaheds, a type of Iranian-designed drone which Russia has used to batter Ukraine repeatedly since the full-scale invasion began four years ago.
Mr Zelenskyy said Russia had targeted energy facilities in Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi and Chernivtsi regions, and the railway in the Zhytomyr region.
Damage was reported in the Dnipro, Zaporizhia, Vinnytsia, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, and Cherkasy regions, Mr Zelenskyy said.
Air defence systems downed 19 missiles and 453 drones, with hits from nine missiles and 26 strike drones recorded at 22 locations, preliminary data shows.
But nine missiles and 26 attack drones hit 22 sites, it said.
"There should be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life," Mr Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
"Russia has not abandoned its attempts to destroy Ukraine's residential and critical infrastructure, and therefore support should continue."
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Mr Zelenskyy urged the country's partners to continue air defence and weapons supplies.
In the Kyiv region, three people were injured, heating was disconnected in 2,806 apartment buildings and damage from debris was reported across three districts, local authorities said.
In the southern Odesa region, 80 firefighters were called in to battle major blazes at infrastructure facilities following a drone attack.
Russia has launched its own large-scale domestic production of Shahed drones, which have played a prominent role in Iran's response to US-Israeli strikes, which began a week ago.
A new round of US-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine, planned for this week, have been postponed due to the war in the Middle East.
Kemi Badenoch said there was a need to reduce the capability of Iran to attack British bases, adding that the UK is currently just "catching arrows".
Defence Secretary John Healey said her comments "insults the men and women of our Armed Forces" and that she should apologise.
On Saturday, the leader of the Opposition said she was "not going to apologise" for criticising the government's refusal to order the RAF to target Iranian missile launchers, rather than intercepting rockets and drones once they're in the air.
While she didn't directly refer to her "hanging around" remark, she hit out at Mr Healey, saying she would never criticise British troops or service personnel.
Speaking at the Conservative Party's spring conference in Harrogate, Ms Badenoch said: "I think that it is a disgrace that rather than get a grip and get HMS Dragon out of Portsmouth, our defence secretary is busy criticising me and trying to make it look like I'm criticising our troops. I would never do that."
Ms Badenoch originally said on Friday that there needed to be an effort to stop missiles from being launched, instead of just focusing on shooting them down.
"You can't always wait for people to attack you. Sometimes you have to make sure that you get there first to stop their ability to hurt your citizens," she said.
"They're not doing enough...What they're doing is catching arrows," she told BBC Breakfast.
"It's not working. We need to actually make sure our bases aren't being hit."
Pressed on whether she supported firing on Iranian missile bases, she said she did, adding: "What else are our jets doing, just hanging around there?
"They need to be able to see who is attacking us and stop them from firing at British soldiers or even British people in hotels."
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On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, said RAF jets could legally strike Iranian missile sites being used to attack British interests.
He stressed that F35 and Typhoon jets were currently only shooting down missiles and drones fired by Iran at allies in the region.
The UK has already given the US permission to use British bases to carry out defensive strikes against Iran's missile facilities.
The controversy comes as Ms Badenoch launches her most scathing attack on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to date, calling him a "political hostage, held at the behest of a load of half-rate left-wing MPs".
In a speech at the Conservative spring conference in Harrogate today, the Tory leader will accuse the prime minister of "sitting on the fence" while the rest of the world rearms.
Kemi Badenoch claims Labour is "nothing like the patriotic party of yesteryear" and is "playing student politics" over the Iran war.