Is US-Iran relationship heading back into the deep freeze?

Iran celebrates the 38th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution today, an event that still defines the country and its place in the world as it seeks to assert itself against a more confrontational US administration.

After decades in isolation, the Shia theocracy has enjoyed a thawing relationship with the west in the past few years. A multilateral nuclear treaty, championed by Barack Obama's administration, quelled pressure for air strikes against Iran's weapons programme and led to the relaxation of economic sanctions.

But now, with Donald Trump vowing to scrap the agreement and both sides reverting to hostile rhetoric, the relationship could be heading back into the deep freeze.

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On Wednesday, Iran lauched a mid-range ballistic missile test, its second in a fortnight, after the US said the country was "on notice" for conducting the first.

The relationship between Tehran and Washington continues to "deteriorate", says The Independent. Trump's executive order banning Iranian citizens from entering the US was met with outrage in the country, "which quickly imposed a retaliatory travel ban for US citizens and announced Iran's central bank would stop using the US dollar for official and financial reporting", says the newspaper.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Trump's actions had exposed his country's "political, economic, ethical and social corruption".

Things could be about to get worse. Earlier this week, Reuters reported Trump was considering adding the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Iran's most powerful security institution, to its list of prohibited terrorist organisations.

Sanctioning Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard could backfire, a senior US official told the news agency, as it "could strengthen the hardliners and undercut more moderate leaders such as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani", weakening their position ahead of the crucial presidential election in May.

Iran might also withdraw its forces from the fight against Islamic State, the unnamed source added.

It is true that the "extreme vulnerability" of the rapport between the two countries has been clear for all to see, says Roxane Farmanfarmaian at Al Jazeera. "It is unsurprising that after 35 years of enmity, the revived US-Iran relationship would stumble as a radically different leadership takes power in Washington," she says.

However, says The Atlantic, "two policies often thought of as opposites - coercion and engagement - are in fact complementary" and it is not too late for Trump to change course.

"The most successful playbook from which Donald Trump can borrow remains the one America used in several decades of containing, countering and ultimately defeating the Soviet Union," it says. That means following a programme of "long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment".