Relations were warm under Iran's Pahlavi dynasty, but quickly deteriorated after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, when the new Islamic Republic government began mutually antagonizing the United States (the "Great Satan") and the Western Bloc, of which Greece was a part during the Cold War.

[3] In response, the Iranian government threatened Greece with retaliation if it allowed the American military to use Greek territory as a staging ground in the event of an open conflict with Iran.

[7] In addition to their modern relationship, the Greek and Iranian nations have an extensive shared history going back thousands of years before the Arab conquest of Iran in the 7th century.

This legacy of strong cordiality would thus be found back for many more centuries in various parts of the world—a harmonious blend of both Greek and Persian cultural aspects.

[10][11] In February 2016, the then Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras traveled to Tehran, becoming the first Western leader to visit Iran after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed.

Tsipras met the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and pledged that his country would become an energy, economic and trade bridge between Iran and the European Union.

This move was a punitive action after Greek authorities confiscated Iranian oil held on a Russian-operated ship docked at a port in Greece a month earlier due to European Union sanctions against Russia for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[17] On June 14, 2022, the Iranian-flagged Lana tanker ship, which was held by Greece in April, has been released and its oil cargo will be returned to its owner, according to Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO).