Washington, March 3
For nearly half a century, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been accused by successive US administrations of orchestrating or backing attacks that killed and wounded American citizens and service members across the Middle East and beyond.
In a statement issued on Monday, the White House described Iran as "the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism" and said more Americans "have been killed by Iran than any other terrorist regime on Earth."
President Donald J. Trump "is doing what Presidents over the last five decades have refused to do - eliminate the threat once and for all," the White House said.
It added that by "destroying Iran's missiles, annihilating their navy, and ensuring they can never obtain a nuclear weapon, the Trump Administration's bold and decisive action is protecting American lives and advancing American interests."
Outlining what it called a partial record of attacks linked to Iran and its proxies, the White House said that in November 1979, Iranian students backed by the regime seized the US Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 Americans hostage in a 444-day standoff.
In April 1983, a suicide car bombing at the US Embassy in Beirut killed 17 Americans. Months later, in October 1983, 241 US military personnel were killed in a truck bombing at a Marine compound in Beirut.
Through the 1980s and 1990s, a series of bombings, hijackings, and kidnappings was attributed to Iran-backed groups, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad. These included the 1996 truck bombing at a US Air Force housing complex in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 US airmen and wounded nearly 500 others, and the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, including a dozen Americans.
The statement also cited attacks during the Iraq war. Between 2003 and 2011, Iran-backed militias killed at least 603 US troops in Iraq, described as "roughly one in every six American combat fatalities in Iraq."
In January 2007, gunmen affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force killed five US soldiers in Karbala, Iraq. In March 2007, former FBI agent Robert Levinson disappeared in Iran and likely died in prison, according to US officials.
More recently, the White House listed rocket and drone attacks in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. In January 2024, Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militants killed three US service members and wounded more than 40 others in a drone attack on a US base in Jordan.
It said that between October 2003 and November 2024, Iran and its proxies conducted more than 180 attacks against US forces in the Middle East, wounding more than 180 service members and killing three.
The White House also referred to October 2023, when "Iran-backed Hamas terrorists killed 46 Americans and kidnapped at least 12 Americans" during the October 7 attacks in Israel. "November 2024: An Iranian national and IRGC asset was charged for plotting to assassinate President Trump," it said.
The United States has designated Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984, citing its support for armed groups across the region.
- IANS
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