Iran’s 'Forever War': Decades of Targeting and Killing Americans Worldwide

As tensions simmer between Iran and Israel, the United States is forced to confront a grim reality: for over four decades, Iran has waged a relentless campaign against Americans across the globe. From direct assaults to proxy wars, the Islamic Republic’s hostility has left a trail of bloodshed and heartbreak.

Sen. Tom Cotton put it bluntly, calling Iran’s actions a "forever war" against the U.S., Israel, and the civilized world since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. That year marked a turning point when radical students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, holding Americans hostage for 444 days under the iron grip of Ayatollah Khomeini. It was a stark declaration of enmity that still echoes today.

Iran’s fingerprints are on some of the deadliest attacks against Americans. In 1983, bombings in Lebanon—admitted by an Iranian official in 2023—killed 63 at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, including 17 Americans, and 241 U.S. service members at a barracks. A fatwa from Khomeini himself reportedly greenlit these atrocities. Fast forward to 1996, when 19 U.S. Air Force members perished in the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, a plot tied to Iran-backed Hezbollah. A 2019 Pentagon report further exposed Iran’s role in 603 U.S. deaths in Iraq from 2003 to 2011—17% of American losses during that period.

But Iran’s aggression isn’t confined to battlefields. The regime has orchestrated assassination plots and kidnappings on foreign soil. In 2020, Jamshid Sharmahd survived an Iranian assassination attempt in California, only to be kidnapped in Dubai and executed by Iran in 2023. Retired FBI agent Robert Levinson vanished in Iran in 2007, later declared dead in custody. Most chillingly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently revealed Iran’s ongoing plot to assassinate President Donald Trump, labeling him "enemy number one."

Iran’s support for terror groups like the Taliban and al Qaeda has fueled countless attacks. Bill Roggio, a counterterrorism expert, testified that Iran’s backing—money, weapons, training—was pivotal in Taliban assaults on U.S. forces in Afghanistan. In 2022, U.S. courts held Iran liable for deaths and injuries in both Iraq and Afghanistan, ordering millions in reparations to victims’ families. Yet, Iran’s audacity persists. In 2024, a drone strike in Jordan killed three Americans, with Iranian operatives charged in the attack.

Prisoner swaps, like the 2023 exchange of five Americans for five Iranians and $6 billion in unfrozen assets, highlight the uneasy stalemate. Meanwhile, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria launched 180 attacks on U.S. forces between October 2023 and August 2024, underscoring the unrelenting threat.

As America navigates this long shadow of conflict, the question isn’t just about retaliation—it’s about how to outsmart a regime that thrives on chaos. Iran’s "forever war” demands a response that’s as resolute as its hatred.