International media are framing theU.S. strikeson Iran as unprovoked, but theIranian regimehas been waging war against America through proxies, cyber operations, and direct strikes for decades. The “Death to America” chant has been a formal part of Iranian state ritual since 1979 and is still recited at official government functions. The late SupremeLeader Khameneihimself used it publicly as recently as 2024.
Iran’s constitution explicitly frames the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ mission as exportingthe Islamic Revolution, which is inherently anti-American in its ideological framework. Iranian officials have described the United States as the “Great Satan” and framed conflict with America as a religious and civilizational obligation, not merely a political dispute.
Since the year 2000, Iran and itsnetwork of proxies, including Hezbollah, the Houthis, and various Iraqi militias, have carried out hundreds of kinetic and cyber attacks against U.S. personnel, assets, and international allies. The record is not exhaustive, as many attacks, especially cyber operations, go unreported or unattributed, but U.S. intelligence has consistently linked them to Tehran.
During the Iraq War from 2003 to 2011, Iran-backed Shiite militias such asKataib Hezbollahand Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq were the primary actors against U.S. forces. The Department of Defense attributes at least603 U.S. troopdeaths to these groups, roughly one in six American combat fatalities in Iraq. The IRGC supplied them with advanced weaponry, most notablyExplosively Formed Penetratorsdesigned to pierce armored vehicles.
In January 2007, IRGC-affiliated militants disguised themselves as U.S. soldiers, infiltrated theKarbala ProvincialJoint Coordination Center, and killed five U.S. soldiers. While the 9/11 Commission concluded Iran had no foreknowledge of the September 11 attacks, it found strong evidence that Tehran facilitated the transit ofal-Qaeda membersinto and out of Afghanistan before the attacks, with some of those individuals among the future hijackers. Iran and Hezbollah had also provided training and advice to al-Qaeda in the years prior.
In January 2002, gunmen affiliated with the Iran-backed al-AqsaMartyrs’ Brigadekilled a U.S.-Israeli dual citizen in the West Bank. In October 2003, terrorists from the Iran-backed Popular Resistance Committees killed three U.S. diplomatic personnel in a bombing in Gaza.
On December 27, 2019,a rocket attackby Kataib Hezbollah killed an American civilian contractor at K-1 Air Base near Kirkuk and triggered a cycle of escalation. Days later, IRGC-instigated demonstrators and KH militants stormed theU.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Following the U.S. killing of Qasem Soleimani in January 2020, Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles directly at Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq, the first direct Iranian military strike on a U.S. base in history. No Americans were killed, but 109 service members suffered traumatic brain injuries.
In March 2023, an Iranian drone struck a U.S. basenear Hasakah, Syria, killing one American contractor and wounding five troops. In December 2023, Iran-backed militias wounded three U.S. service members atErbil Air Basein Iraq. Between October 7, 2023, and January 27, 2024, Iran-backed groups launched 160 rocket, missile, and dronestrikes against U.S.and coalition forces across Iraq, Syria, and Jordan.
Specific incidents included a drone strike on the al-Tanf garrison on October 18, 2023, injuring more than 20 Americans, and three separate strikes in a 24-hour period on November 8 at Al-Asad Airbase, Al-Harir Air Base, and near the Mosul Dam. On August 9, 2024, a kamikaze drone struck the Rumalyn Landing Zone in eastern Syria, injuring eight U.S. soldiers.
On January 28, 2024, Kataib Hezbollah launched a drone strike onTower 22in northeastern Jordan, killing three U.S. soldiers and injuring more than 40, the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in the region in roughly a decade. Between October 2023 and November 2024, Iran and its proxies conducted more than180 attacksagainst U.S. forces in the Middle East, wounding more than 180 service members.
Source: The Gateway Pundit
