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For the first time, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ tells the story of Iran's relationship with the West over the last 30 years - as seen by the key players and political insiders from both sides.

Marking the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, each programme focuses on a different decade in Iran's history.

Archive footage and interviews recreate the diplomatic tensions, false dawns and intricacies of political negotiations that have marked the relationship so far.

Programme two:

The inside story of the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war - and the battle for control of the Middle East throughout the 1980s.

In September 1980, a prolonged series of border disputes finally descended into all-out conflict as Iraq invaded Iran, hoping to take advantage of the chaos in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution.

The battles quickly came to resemble World War One, with trench warfare and the use of chemical weapons by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. In 1982, the war began to turn in Iran's favour.

Meanwhile the US, conscious of a need to protect its oil supplies, found itself trying to play a difficult game - not wanting to approve of the chemical weapons, but not wanting to endanger its relations with Iraq either.

Iran and the West: From Khomeni to Ahmedinejad tells the inside story of all these dramatic events, from the people who were there at the time.

First broadcast 27 July 2009