The Islamic Regime of Iran has been at war with the United States since the Ayatollah stepped off the Air France jet on February 1, 1979. Here is a list of most of the acts:
The Tehran Embassy Hostage Crisis (1979–1981): Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, holding 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. This event permanently severed formal diplomatic ties.
The Bethesda Assassination (1980): In the earliest days following the revolution, Iran successfully commissioned the murder of Ali Akbar Tabatabaei, a prominent Iranian dissident and former diplomat, who was shot and killed at his home in Bethesda, Maryland.
The Beirut Embassy and Marine Barracks Bombings (1983): The Iranian-backed group Hezbollah orchestrated two massive suicide bombings in Lebanon. The April bombing of the U.S. Embassy killed 63 people. In October, a truck bomb struck the U.S. Marine barracks, killing 241 American service members.
Hostage-Taking and Hijackings: Throughout the 1980s, Iran-backed proxies abducted dozens of Americans in Lebanon, including CIA Station Chief William Buckley, who was tortured and killed. They also hijacked commercial flights such as TWA Flight 847 in 1985.
On February 17, 1988, Higgins was serving as a senior military observer for a United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon when he was dragged from his vehicle by armed men linked to the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah. His captors tortured and interrogated him before murdering him in captivity around July 1989.
The Tanker War (1984–1988): Iran targeted international shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf, mining waters and striking commercial vessels, which directly pulled the U.S. military into armed naval clashes.
Khobar Towers Bombing (1996): An Iran-backed truck bombing at a military housing complex in Saudi Arabia killed 19 U.S. airmen and injured hundreds.
Insurgency in Iraq (2003–2011): Iran supplied sophisticated Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs) and roadside bombs to Shia insurgent groups. The U.S. government estimates these weapons killed 603 American troops during the Iraq War.
The Washington D.C. Restaurant Plot (2011): The U.S. Department of Justice disrupted a conspiracy involving Manssor Arbabsiar, a naturalized Iranian-American operative working with the IRGC Qods Force. The plot intended to bomb a popular Washington, D.C. restaurant to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States.
Early Cyber Warfare (2011–2014): State-sponsored Iranian hackers launched massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) disruptions against major U.S. banks and executed a destructive cyberattack against the Las Vegas Sands Corporation casino network.
Targeting High-Ranking U.S. Officials (Post-2020): Following the 2020 killing of Qasem Soleimani, Iran heavily escalated its targeting of American leadership. The FBI and DOJ have disrupted advanced, recurring assassination plots targeting high-profile figures, including President Donald Trump, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. This includes the federal indictment of operatives, such as Farhad Shakeri, tasked with murder-for-hire schemes.
Ain al-Asad Missile Strike (2020): Following the U.S. assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, Iran directly launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq, causing traumatic brain injuries to more than 100 U.S. troops.
The Brooklyn Kidnapping Plot (2021): U.S. federal authorities exposed an Iranian state intelligence network operating inside New York. Operatives hired private investigators to surveil and plan the kidnapping of Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American human rights journalist, from her home in Brooklyn.
Proxy Drone and Rocket Campaigns (2023–2025): Iran-backed militias accelerated drone and missile strikes against U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria. A prominent drone strike on a Jordan base called Tower 22 killed 3 U.S. service members in early 2024.