Iran Killing Americans - Timeline
Segment #524
Marco Rubio just lit up Face The Nation in a brutal exchange with DNC mouthpiece Margaret Brennan — and the media doesn't want you to see it. From exposing Democrat hypocrisy to shutting down false narratives live on CBS, this is the Rubio moment that’s going viral for a reason.
Tucker Carlson Network
Tucker commented today on Marco Rubio’s interview with CBS host Margaret Brennan and totally mischaracterized the Secretary’s remarks and seemingly ignored the timeline of, as the world’s greatest sponsor of terrorism, Iran’s history since the 1970’s of killing Americans. A reasonable question is whether Tucker is losing it blinded as he sees a neocon hiding behind every bush. (sorry bad pun). Iran is entirely different than the Iraqi WMD debacle. Not understanding the difference and the stakes involved when confronted with the history below is concerning for anyone in power that has a megaphone. That includes the Dems, Tucker, or any other talking head that may have an agenda other than America First.
“Was Iran Really Building a Nuclear Weapon? “That’s Irrelevant,” Rubio Says. Few moments in American history are as shameful as when our country invaded Iraq based on the lie that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. That catastrophe may have helped the neocons, but it did so at the cost of trillions of U.S. taxpayer dollars and thousands of service member lives.
Is 2025 Washington making the same mistake the Bush administration did in 2003? Marco Rubio says no, but for a different reason than you may expect.
Rather than justifying America’s act of war by assuring the public that Iran absolutely, positively was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons like the war hawks insist, Rubio on Sunday said it doesn’t even matter if Tehran was building a bomb. The U.S. had to attack regardless.
“That’s irrelevant!” the secretary of state barked when asked if he knows for sure that Iran’s supreme leader had ordered nuclear weaponization. “I see that question being asked in the media all the time. That’s an irrelevant question.”
We disagree. We think whether the stated reason for bombing Iran is legitimate is very important. The American people deserve to know if their government is lying to them about its motives for engaging in yet another Middle Eastern war. Rubio’s defensiveness is a bad sign. Read more.”
Iranian History of Killing Americans
Iran's relationship with the United States has been marked by significant hostility and numerous incidents involving American hostages, attacks on U.S. interests, and the use of proxies.1 Here's a timeline of major events:
1979-1980s: Post-Revolution and Early Hostage Crises
November 1979 - January 1981: Iran Hostage Crisis.2 Following the Islamic Revolution, Iranian students, with the backing of the Iranian government, stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 66 Americans hostage.3 52 of them were held for 444 days, enduring beatings, solitary confinement, and threats of execution.4
April 1983: U.S. Embassy Bombing in Beirut. A suicide car bombing, attributed to Iranian-backed Hezbollah, killed 63 people, including 17 Americans, at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.
October 1983: Beirut Barracks Bombing.5 Hezbollah operatives drove a truck bomb into a U.S. Marine compound in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. military personnel.6 This remains one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. forces in history.
March 1984: Kidnapping and Killing of William Buckley. CIA Station Chief William Buckley was kidnapped in Beirut by Islamic Jihad (widely believed to be a front for Hezbollah), tortured, and eventually killed in 1985.7
December 1984: Kuwait Airways Flight 221 Hijacking. Hezbollah terrorists hijacked a Kuwait Airways flight and killed two American officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
June 1985: Hijacking of TWA Flight 847. Members of Iran-backed Hezbollah hijacked TWA Flight 847.8 U.S. Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem was shot and his body dumped on the airport tarmac.
July 1989: Killing of Col. William Higgins. Hezbollah operatives killed U.S. Marine Corps Col. William Higgins, who had been kidnapped the previous year while on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.
1988: USS Samuel B. Roberts Strikes Iranian Mine. The USS Samuel B. Roberts struck an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf, nearly sinking the ship and injuring 69 crewmembers. The U.S. retaliated with Operation Praying Mantis, destroying Iranian oil platforms and sinking a warship.9
1990s: Continued State-Sponsored Terrorism
June 1996: Khobar Towers Bombing. A truck bomb detonated at the Khobar Towers, a U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Americans and injuring 372.10 Iran-backed Saudi Hezbollah was held responsible for the attack.
August 1998: U.S. Embassy Bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. With assistance from Hezbollah, al-Qaeda suicide bombers almost simultaneously bombed the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 12 Americans among 224 total fatalities, and wounding thousands. U.S. federal courts later found Iran liable for these attacks.
2000s-2010s: Iraq War and Regional Proxy Conflicts
2003-2011: Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. The Pentagon estimates that Iranian-backed militias killed at least 603 U.S. troops in Iraq during this period, primarily through the use of IEDs and other attacks.
January 2007: Karbala Attack. Twelve men affiliated with the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), disguised as U.S. soldiers, attacked the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, Iraq, killing five U.S. soldiers and wounding three others.11
July 2014: Hamas Kills Americans in IDF. Hamas terrorists killed two Americans serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during fighting in Gaza as part of Operation Protective Edge.
October 2015: Hamas Attack on West Bank Residents. Hamas terrorists killed an American citizen and his wife, residents of the West Bank community of Neria, in a drive-by shooting.
December 2019: K1 Military Base Rocket Attack. Rockets fired by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia, killed an American security contractor and wounded several U.S. service members and Iraqi personnel at the K1 military base in Kirkuk, Iraq.12
2020s: Renewed Tensions and Drone Attacks
February 2021: Erbil Rocket Attack. A rocket fired by an Iran-backed militia at coalition forces in Erbil, Iraq, wounded a U.S. service member and four U.S. civilian contractors.
July 2021: Rocket and Drone Attacks in Iraq and Syria. Iranian-backed militias conducted at least three rocket and drone attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria within 24 hours, wounding two U.S. service members.
September 2022: Iranian Rocket Attack in Iraqi Kurdistan. An Iranian rocket attack killed an American citizen in Iraqi Kurdistan.
March 2023: Syrian Base Drone Attack. An Iranian drone killed an American contractor and wounded five service members and another contractor when it struck a coalition base near the Syrian city of Hasakah.
October 7, 2023: Hamas Attack on Israel. Hamas, an Iran-backed group, launched a massive attack on southern Israel, killing at least 48 Americans and kidnapping at least 12 Americans.
December 2023: Erbil Drone Attack. A drone attack by an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia against U.S. forces in Erbil wounded three American soldiers, one critically.
January 2024: Tower 22 Drone Attack. A drone launched by Kataib Hezbollah killed three U.S. soldiers at a U.S. military base in Jordan (known as Tower 22) and wounded over 40 other service members.
October 2024 (projected): Execution of Jamshid Sharmahd.13 Iran is projected to execute German-Iranian national and U.S. permanent resident Jamshid Sharmahd on fraudulent terrorism charges.14
November 2024 (projected): Increased Attacks on U.S. Forces. A report by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies indicates that Iran and its proxies conducted more than 180 attacks against U.S. forces in the Middle East between October 2023 and November 2024, resulting in over 180 wounded and three killed U.S. service members.
June 2025 (projected): Attacks on U.S. Bases in Iraq and Syria. At least three U.S. bases in Syria and two U.S. bases in Iraq are projected to be attacked with missiles or drones, likely by Iranian-backed militias.15
This timeline highlights a consistent pattern of Iranian involvement, directly or through proxies, in attacks and hostage-taking incidents targeting American citizens and interests across various regions.