In recent months, a revisionist narrative has taken hold across media, social media, and Democrat lawmakers, one that attempts to recast Iran as the victim in a conflict it has spent decades fueling. They claim that Tehran was subjected to unprovoked aggression, that the threat it posed was exaggerated or manufactured, and that the Trump administration constructed a pretext for war.
But this argument depends on ignoring a well-documented history of Iranian state-sponsored violence. Over the past 26 years, Iran has demonstrated a clear and sustained pattern of launching direct attacks or directing proxy militias to carry out attacks on infrastructure, international shipping, and foreign forces.
What follows is a chronological account of confirmed Iranian attacks, both direct and through proxies, drawn from Pentagon data, federal court rulings, 9/11 Commission findings, State Department terrorist designations, Australian Security Intelligence Organization assessments, and allied government intelligence reports.
The record spans 26 years, more than 20 countries, and thousands of casualties. The victims were not exclusively American or Israeli. They were Lebanese, Saudi, Yemeni, Kuwaiti, Emirati, Bahraini, Qatari, Iraqi, Afghan, Australian, Cypriot, and Jordanian.