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Below is a list of notable attacks attributed to Iran and its proxies against the United States or U.S. interests since 1970
Grok ^ | Grok

Posted on 06/22/2025 4:18:30 PM PDT by NoLibZone

Below is a list of notable attacks attributed to Iran and its proxies against the United States or U.S. interests since 1970, based on available information.

Iran’s proxies include groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and various Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, often supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or its Quds Force. The list focuses on direct attacks, proxy actions, or plots with credible evidence of Iranian involvement.

Note that some incidents involve plausible deniability by Iran, and the extent of their control over proxies varies.

Attacks and Incidents by Iran and Its Proxies Against the U.S. (1970–Present)

1. 1979–1981: Iran Hostage Crisis (Tehran, Iran) • Perpetrator: Iranian students backed by the revolutionary government

• Description: On November 4, 1979, Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 Americans hostage (52 held for 444 days). The crisis followed the Iranian Revolution and was supported by the new regime under Ayatollah Khomeini, targeting U.S. support for the deposed Shah.

• Casualties: No deaths, but prolonged captivity and psychological trauma for hostages. • Source:

2. 1983: U.S. Embassy Bombing (Beirut, Lebanon) • Perpetrator: Islamic Jihad (early branch of Hezbollah, Iran-backed) • Description: On April 18, 1983, a suicide car bombing targeted the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans. Iran’s IRGC is believed to have orchestrated the attack through Hezbollah. • Casualties: 17 Americans, 46 others killed; many injured. • Source:

3. 1983: Beirut Barracks Bombing (Beirut, Lebanon) • Perpetrator: Hezbollah (Iran-backed) • Description: On October 23, 1983, a truck bomb detonated at a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, part of the Multinational Force in Lebanon. The attack, attributed to Hezbollah with Iranian support, was one of the deadliest against U.S. forces since the Vietnam War. • Casualties: 241 U.S. service members killed, numerous injured. • Source:

4. 1984: U.S. Embassy Annex Bombing (Beirut, Lebanon) • Perpetrator: Hezbollah (Iran-backed) • Description: On September 20, 1984, a suicide bombing targeted the U.S. Embassy annex in East Beirut. Iran is linked to the attack via Hezbollah. • Casualties: 24 killed, including 2 Americans; many injured. • Source:

5. 1982–1991: Hostage-Taking in Lebanon • Perpetrator: Hezbollah (Iran-backed) • Description: Hezbollah kidnapped several Americans in Lebanon during the 1980s, including journalists, academics, and CIA personnel. Iran provided support, using hostages as leverage in negotiations (e.g., Iran-Contra affair). • Casualties: Several killed, others held for years. • Source:

6. 1985: TWA Flight 847 Hijacking • Perpetrator: Hezbollah (Iran-backed) • Description: On June 14, 1985, Hezbollah operatives hijacked TWA Flight 847, holding passengers hostage for 17 days. A U.S. Navy diver was killed during the ordeal. • Casualties: 1 American killed; others held hostage. • Source:

7. 1986: Khobar Towers Bombing (Khobar, Saudi Arabia) • Perpetrator: Hezbollah Al-Hijaz (Iran-backed) • Description: On June 25, 1996, a truck bomb exploded at the Khobar Towers, a U.S. military housing complex. The attack is attributed to Hezbollah Al-Hijaz, with Iranian support. Note: The 1986 date mentioned in some X posts appears to be a typo, as the event occurred in 1996. • Casualties: 19 Americans killed, ~500 injured. • Source: (corrected for date)

8. 2003–2011: Attacks on U.S. Forces in Iraq • Perpetrators: Various Iran-backed Shiite militias (e.g., Kata’ib Hezbollah, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, Badr Brigade) • Description: During the Iraq War, Iran-backed militias conducted numerous attacks on U.S. forces, including roadside bombs (EFPs), rocket attacks, and ambushes. The IRGC-Quds Force provided weapons, training, and funding. • Casualties: Hundreds of U.S. troops killed or injured (exact numbers vary). • Source:

9. 2011: Plot to Assassinate Saudi Ambassador in the U.S. • Perpetrator: IRGC-Quds Force • Description: In October 2011, U.S. authorities uncovered an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, D.C., using hired operatives. The plot was disrupted. • Casualties: None (plot foiled). • Source:

10. 2020: Assassination Threats Against U.S. Officials • Perpetrator: Iran (IRGC) • Description: Iran has been linked to threats against U.S. officials, including alleged plots to assassinate President Donald Trump and other officials, in retaliation for the 2020 killing of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. • Casualties: None (threats disrupted). • Source:

11. October 2023–February 2024: Attacks on U.S. Bases in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan • Perpetrators: Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI, Iran-backed coalition including Kata’ib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba, others) • Description: Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Iran-backed militias launched over 170 attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan using rockets, drones, and missiles. A notable attack on January 28, 2024, in Jordan killed three U.S. service members. • Casualties: 3 U.S. service members killed, 186 injuries (including 130 traumatic brain injuries). • Source:

12. June 14, 2025: Drone Attack on Ain al-Asad Airbase (Iraq) • Perpetrator: Islamic Resistance in Iraq (Iran-backed) • Description: Three drones were launched at the U.S. base in Anbar Province, Iraq, following Israel’s strikes on Iran. U.S. forces intercepted the drones. This was the first reported attack since February 2024. • Casualties: None. • Source: Notes and Context • Pre-1979 Context: No major attacks by Iran or its proxies against the U.S. are recorded before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, as Iran was a U.S. ally under the Shah. The revolution marked a shift to anti-American policies and the rise of proxy warfare. • Proxy Dynamics: Iran uses proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and Iraqi militias to maintain plausible deniability, though the IRGC-Quds Force often provides funding, weapons, and training. Proxies sometimes act independently, complicating attribution. • Gaps and Limitations: This list is not exhaustive, as some attacks may lack definitive evidence of Iranian involvement or remain classified. Covert operations, cyberattacks, or smaller-scale incidents may be underrepresented. • Recent Trends: Since October 2023, Iran’s proxies have escalated attacks in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict, targeting U.S. forces to pressure U.S. support for Israel. However, Iran has at times restrained proxies to avoid direct war with the U.S.

• Verification: X posts (e.g.,) highlight public sentiment but may contain errors (e.g., the 1986 Khobar Towers typo). Web sources like CFR, FDD, and State Department reports provide more reliable data. If you need further details on any specific incident or additional sources, let me know!


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: 1979; iran; iranattacksus; iranianattacks; nlz
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1 posted on 06/22/2025 4:18:30 PM PDT by NoLibZone
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To: NoLibZone

What a list.

Shows they’re misunderstood. /S

Even today the spokesman said the US attacks were on places peacefully working on nuclear energy to supply electricity.


2 posted on 06/22/2025 4:22:46 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: NoLibZone

Yes.

I know the theocracy started in 79.

I didn’t want the AI to miss any.


3 posted on 06/22/2025 4:24:38 PM PDT by NoLibZone (Trump failure: Not declaring Antifa a terrorist organization.)
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To: NoLibZone

P


4 posted on 06/22/2025 4:29:05 PM PDT by Huskrrrr (Alinsky, you magnificent Bastard, I read your book!)
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To: NoLibZone

Those who are so against the President Trump decision don’t GAF about the list. I am old enough to know what the Iranian regime has done. I met a fellow Vet who lost his legs by a Iranian Shape Charge.


5 posted on 06/22/2025 4:30:57 PM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave e them.-S.Adams)
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To: NoLibZone

bttt

The U.S.A. has no air defense against Iranian drones, and nowhere near the size of a navy that is necessary to defend shipping, ports, and facilities of the land, let alone trading partners.


6 posted on 06/22/2025 4:33:58 PM PDT by linMcHlp
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To: NoLibZone
President Reagan, with Sec. Schultz (left), Col. North (behind), and Nancy looking on, condemns the Beirut bombing of the Marine baracks.

>

7 posted on 06/22/2025 4:36:42 PM PDT by nwrep
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To: NoLibZone

Israel uses nukes as a deterrent.
Iran would use them to kill Jews.


8 posted on 06/22/2025 4:40:14 PM PDT by MMusson ( )
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To: NoLibZone

There were attacks on other US embassies at the time of the 1979 embassy takeover that were part of the Islamic Revolutionary movement- the Ayatollah Khomeini was quite the agitator, and was harbored and backed by Iraq, which was trying to topple the Shah, for years before.


9 posted on 06/22/2025 4:41:56 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: NoLibZone

1979 was an interesting year... year of the Iranian revolution and the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. There was a big WILP communist meet too, attended by future US CIA Director Leon Panetta:

Lucy Haessler organized the 1979 national Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Biennial Conference at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Haessler invited three main speakers: Communist Party affiliated scientist and “peace” activist Linus Pauling, Randall Forsberg, founder of the thoroughly socialist infiltrated Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and Rep. Leon Panetta.

7 posted on 5/18/2025, 5:37:53 PM by piasa


10 posted on 06/22/2025 4:45:16 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: frank ballenger

*


11 posted on 06/22/2025 4:45:18 PM PDT by Taffini ( Mr. Pippen and Mr. Waffles do not approve and neither do I)
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To: NoLibZone

1979 was an interesting year... year of the Iranian revolution and the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. There was a big WILP communist meet too, attended by future US CIA Director Leon Panetta:

Lucy Haessler organized the 1979 national Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Biennial Conference at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Haessler invited three main speakers: Communist Party affiliated scientist and “peace” activist Linus Pauling, Randall Forsberg, founder of the thoroughly socialist infiltrated Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and Rep. Leon Panetta.

7 posted on 5/18/2025, 5:37:53 PM by piasa

1979 was also the year Saddam Hussein consolidated power by holding a meeting of Baath Party officials where he had 60 or more of them executed on the spot.


12 posted on 06/22/2025 4:47:37 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: NoLibZone

https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2025/06/19/iranian-and-iranian-backed-attacks-against-americans-1979-present/

1. November 1979-January 1981: Iranian students — with the backing of Tehran — take 66 Americans hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
2. April 1983: A suicide car bombing kills 63 people, including 17 Americans, at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. The Iran-backed terrorist group Islamic Jihad, a precursor and early branch of Hezbollah (not to be confused with Palestinian Islamic Jihad), claims responsibility.
3. October 1983: Operatives of the Iran-backed Hezbollah drive a truck bomb at a Marine compound in Beirut, killing 220 U.S. Marines and 21 other service personnel.
4. December 1983: Hezbollah operatives drive an explosives-filled dump truck through the gates of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City. No Americans are harmed.
5. March 1984: Terrorists kidnap CIA station chief William Buckley in Beirut, subsequently torturing and ultimately killing him in 1985. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.
6. December 1984: Hezbollah terrorists hijack Kuwait Airways Flight 221 on its way from Kuwait to Pakistan and divert it to Tehran, killing two American officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
7. June 1985: Hezbollah terrorists hijack TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome and kill a U.S. Navy diver.
8. July 1989: Hezbollah operatives kill U.S. Marine Corps Col. William Higgins after kidnapping him the previous year while on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.
9. April 1995: An explosives-laden van crashes into a bus near Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip, killing one American and seven Israelis. Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims responsibility.
10. August 1995: A Hamas suicide bomber blows up a bus in the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood of Jerusalem, killing an American and three other passengers and wounding more than 100.
11. February 1996: A Hamas suicide bomber blows up a Jerusalem bus, killing three Americans and wounding three other Americans. A total of 26 people die in the attack.
12. March 1996: A suicide bomber blows up the Dizengoff shopping center in Tel Aviv, wounding two Americans. Twenty people die and 75 others are injured in the attack. Both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad claim responsibility.
13. May 1996: Gunmen kill an American-Israeli dual citizen in the community of Beit El in the West Bank. Another U.S. citizen and three Israelis are wounded. No group claims responsibility, but Israel suspects Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
14. June 1996: A truck carrying 5,000 pounds of explosives blows up the Khobar Towers, a U.S. Air Force housing complex in the Saudi Arabian town of Khobar. Nineteen Americans die and some 500 people are injured. The Iran-backed Hezbollah Al Hijaz, a terrorist group in Saudi Arabia, is deemed responsible.
15. September 1997: Three Hamas suicide bombers blow themselves up at the Ben Yehuda shopping mall in Jerusalem, killing a U.S.-Israeli dual citizen and wounding seven other American citizens. Four other people die and nearly 200 are wounded in the attack.
16. August 1998: With the assistance of Hezbollah, al Qaeda suicide bombers almost simultaneously blow up the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans, and wounding thousands. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, al Qaeda developed “the tactical expertise for such attacks months earlier, when some of its operatives — top military committee members and several operatives who were involved with the Kenya cell among them — were sent to Hezbollah training camps in Lebanon.”
17. August 2001: A Hamas suicide bomber blows up the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, killing a U.S.-Israeli dual citizen and two other Americans. A total of 15 people die in the attack.
18. September 11, 2001: While the 9/11 Commission Report concludes that Iran had no foreknowledge of al Qaeda’s attacks on the World Trade Center, the report indicates that Tehran facilitated the travel of some of the terrorists. “In sum,” the report notes, “there is strong evidence that Iran facilitated the transit of al Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, and that some of these were future 9/11 hijackers.”
19. January 2002: Gunmen affiliated with the Iran-backed al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade kill a U.S.-Israel dual citizen and wound another individual in the West Bank community of Beit Sahur.
20. July 2002: A bomb planted by a Hamas terrorist kills five Americans at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, killing five American students, including an American-Israeli dual citizen and an American-French dual citizen. A total of nine people died in the attack.
21. June 2003: An American citizen, along with 16 other people, died when a Hamas terrorist blew himself up on a bus in Jerusalem.
22. October 2003: Terrorists from the Iran-backed Popular Resistance Committees kill three U.S. diplomatic personnel in a bombing in Gaza.
23. 2003-2011: Iranian-backed militias kill at least 603 U.S. troops in Iraq, according to the Pentagon. Iranian training and material support for Iraqi militias during the surge greatly increased the difficulty of U.S. forces to combat the insurgency and included some of the deadliest weapons used against American troops, including explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
24. August 2003: A Hamas suicide bomber blows up a bus in Jerusalem, killing five Americans and wounding one other American. A total of 24 people died in the attack.
25. August 2006: Hezbollah fighters kill American citizen Michael Levin, a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), during the Second Lebanon War. He is the only American to die in the conflict.
26. January 2007: Twelve men affiliated with the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) disguised themselves as U.S. soldiers, entered the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in the Iraqi city of Karbala, killed five U.S. soldiers, and wounded another three. In 2019, the U.S. State Department issued a $15 million bounty for information on an IRGC Quds Force commander who planned the attack and other “assassinations of coalition forces in Iraq.”
27. July 2014: Hamas terrorists kill two Americans serving in the IDF during fighting between the terrorist group and Israel in Gaza as part of Operation Protective Edge.
28. October 2015: Hamas terrorists kill an American citizen and his wife, residents of the West Bank community of Neria, in their car in a drive-by shooting.
29. December 2019: Rockets fired by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia, kills an American security contractor and wounds several U.S. service members and Iraqi personnel at the K1 military base in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
30. January 2020: A direct Iranian ballistic missile attack against the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq causes more than 100 U.S. troops to suffer traumatic brain injuries.
31. March 2020: The family of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007, announces that he likely died in an Iranian prison at an unknown date.
32. September 2020: U.S. intelligence reports indicate that Iran is weighing a plot to assassinate U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Lana Marks.
33. February 2021: An rocket fired by an Iran-backed militia at coalition forces in the Iraqi city of Erbil wounds a U.S. service member and four U.S. civilian contractors.
34. July 2021: Iranian-backed militias conduct at least three rocket and drone attacks against U.S. forces in 24 hours in Iraq and Syria, wounding two U.S. service members.
35. September 2022: An Iranian rocket attack kills an American citizen in Iraqi Kurdistan.
36. November 2022: A captain in Iran’s IRGC orchestrates the killing of an American citizen living in Baghdad who worked at an English language institute.
37. March 2023: An Iranian drone kills an American contractor and wounds five service members and another contractor when it strikes a coalition base near the Syrian city of Hasakah.
38. October 7, 2023: Hamas kills at least 48 Americans and kidnaps at least 12 Americans in a massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel.
39. December 2023: A drone attack conducted by an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia against U.S. forces in Erbil wounds three American soldiers, including one critically injured with shrapnel to the head that placed him in a coma.
40. January 2024: A drone launched by Kataib Hezbollah kills three U.S. soldiers at a U.S. military base in Jordan and wounded more than 40 other service members.
41. October 2024: Iran executes German-Iranian national and U.S. permanent resident Jamshid Sharmahd on fraudulent terrorism charges.
42. November 2024: A report released by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies indicates that Iran and its proxies have conducted more than 180 attacks against U.S. forces in the Middle East between October 17, 2023, and November 19, 2024, resulting in more than 180 wounded and three killed U.S. service members.
43. November 2024: The U.S. Department of Justice announces charges against an Iranian national and two American accomplices for plotting to assassinate President Trump.
44. March 2025: A U.S. jury convicts two agents of Iran for plotting to assassinate Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad in New York in 2022.
45. June 2025: At least three U.S. bases in Syria and two U.S. bases in Iraq are attacked with missiles or drones, likely by Iranian-backed militias.


13 posted on 06/22/2025 4:47:51 PM PDT by paltz
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To: NoLibZone

1979 was an interesting year... year of the Iranian revolution and the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. There was a big WILP communist meet too, attended by future US CIA Director Leon Panetta:

Lucy Haessler organized the 1979 national Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Biennial Conference at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Haessler invited three main speakers: Communist Party affiliated scientist and “peace” activist Linus Pauling, Randall Forsberg, founder of the thoroughly socialist infiltrated Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and Rep. Leon Panetta.

7 posted on 5/18/2025, 5:37:53 PM by piasa

1979 was also the year Iraq’s Saddam Hussein consolidated power by holding a meeting of Baath Party officials where he had 60 or more of them executed on the spot.
Iraq’s Baath Party had sheltered Iranian cleric Khomeini for years before Khomeini came to power in Iran, mainly because Iraq had eyes on an oil rich region of Western Iran.


14 posted on 06/22/2025 4:52:01 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustmilents offered here free of charge)
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To: nwrep

That’s not Ollie North in the rear. That is Robert McFarlane, National Security Advisor.


15 posted on 06/22/2025 4:57:17 PM PDT by damper99
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To: damper99

That’s who I meant. Thanks.


16 posted on 06/22/2025 5:13:10 PM PDT by nwrep
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To: NoLibZone

Most of the IED in Iraq and Afghanistan were sponsored by Iran.
They have been responsible for injuring and killing thousands of Americans.

They got Karma coming to them.


17 posted on 06/22/2025 5:39:37 PM PDT by Pete Dovgan
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To: NoLibZone

I will never, ever forget a front page, above the fold article in the WSJ, years before 1979. Khomeini was a “celebrated” “peaceful” cleric, living, safely sheltered, in Paris. The Islamofascistnazis have been at war with the United States since President Thomas Jefferson sent the US Navy to Tripoli.

The Islamofascistnazis have been at war with civilization since 700AD. It is about time civilization fought back.


18 posted on 06/22/2025 5:43:02 PM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try - AND - Every Time You Fall Down, Get The Frak Up! )
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To: Ronaldus Magnus III

Trump needs to send a picture of the Jamkaran Mosque to
Ali Khamenei, Let’s talk! A picture is worth 1,000 words.
The dear leader maybe too stupid to understand the meaning!


19 posted on 06/22/2025 5:48:48 PM PDT by jonathan-swift2000 (gaza)
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To: frank ballenger
Even today the spokesman said the US attacks were on places peacefully working on nuclear energy to supply electricity.

IN an oil rich country like Iran.

Sure I believe it.

20 posted on 06/22/2025 6:03:02 PM PDT by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus)
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