Iran-backed Violence Against Americans

Since 1979, the Iranian government and Iran-backed forces have murdered, injured, and kidnapped hundreds of U.S. service members and civilians. Below is a list detailing those attacks and wrongful detentions of innocent Americans.

Click here to read about Iran-backed violence against Americans.

• February 14, 1979: 2 Americans Kidnapped: Armed Iranian guerilla fighters tied to the Khomeini regime storm and occupy the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, kidnapping 101 people, including Ambassador William H. Sullivan, and Marine Sergeant Kenneth Kraus, whom the fighters torture in captivity.
• September 1979: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain a U.S. citizen, David Rabhan. He is released on August 6, 1990.
• November 4, 1979–January 20, 1981: 66 Americans Kidnapped: Iranian students—incited by Ayatollah Khomeini, and with the backing of the regime — take 66 U.S. citizens hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
• July 19, 1982: 1 American Kidnapped: Hezbollah, an Iran-backed organization, kidnaps David Dodge, acting president of the American University of Beirut, outside his campus office in Lebanon. Hezbollah releases Dodge after a year in captivity.
• April 18, 1983: 17 Americans Killed: A suicide car bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut kills 63, including 17 U.S. citizens. The Reagan Administration identifies Hezbollah as responsible for the attack.
• October 23, 1983: 241 Americans Killed: A Hezbollah operative drives a truck bomb through the perimeter of the Marine Amphibious Unit Compound in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. military personnel and wounding upwards of 100 others.
• December 18, 1983: A pro-Iran fundamentalist drives a truck bomb through the gates of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City, killing six. 50 people sustain injuries, including U.S. citizens.
• January 18, 1984: 1 American Killed: Two alleged Islamic Jihad affiliates shoot and kill Malcolm Kerr, president of the American University of Beirut.
• February 10, 1984: 1 American Kidnapped: Hezbollah affiliates kidnap Frank Regier, a professor at the American University of Beirut, off the street near the university. Regier spends two months in captivity before rival Shiite militiamen free
• March 7, 1984: 1 American Kidnapped: Islamic Jihad militants kidnap Jeremy Levin, CNN Bureau Chief and correspondent in Beirut, on the street. While in captivity, his captors beat, interrogate, torture, and threaten his life before he escapes in February 1985.
• March 16, 1984: 1 American Kidnapped and Killed: Islamic Jihad militants kidnap William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut. The militants torture Buckley to death in early June 1985 after he spends 14 months in captivity.
• April 12, 1984: 2 Americans Killed: Islamic Jihad plant a bomb in the El Descanso restaurant, popular with U.S. personnel from the Torrejon de Ardoz Air Base in Spain. The bomb kills 18, including two U.S. service members, and injures 82, 12 of whom are U.S. citizens.
• May 8, 1984: 1 American Kidnapped: Islamic Jihad militants kidnap Reverend Benjamin Weir, a Presbyterian minister. He is held for 16 months, forced to endure psychological torture, and then released on September 14, 1985, after extensive negotiations.
• September 20, 1984: 2 Americans Killed: A suicide bomber attempts to drive an explosive-filled van into the U.S. Embassy Annex in Aukar, a Christian suburb in east Beirut. Although the bomber is shot before reaching the embassy, the van still explodes after colliding with a parked vehicle. 23 individuals, including two U.S. citizens, are killed in the blast. Hezbollah claims responsibility for the attack.
• December 3, 1984: 1 American Kidnapped and Killed: Iran-affiliated militants kidnap, and later kill, Peter Kilburn, a librarian at the American University of Beirut. The militants kill him on April 17, 1986, and his body was soon recovered.
• December 3, 1984: 2 Americans Killed: Hezbollah terrorists, likely with support from elements in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s Foreign and Interior Ministries, hijack Kuwait Airways Flight 221 travelling from Kuwait City to Karachi, diverting the plane to Tehran. They kill two U.S. citizens working for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
• January 8, 1985: 1 American Kidnapped: Jihad militants kidnap Reverend Lawrence Jenco on the street in Beirut. Held with several other hostages, including Terry Anderson, he endures torture before being freed on July 26, 1986.
• March 16, 1985: 1 American Kidnapped: Hezbollah kidnaps U.S. citizen and journalist, Terry Anderson, from his car in Beirut. Held in captivity for nearly seven years, he endures severe beatings, death threats, and torture.
• May 28, 1985: 1 American Kidnapped: Hezbollah kidnaps David Jacobsen, a hospital administrator, from outside his hospital in Beirut. He endures 17 months in captivity before he is released.
• June 9, 1985: 1 American Kidnapped: Hezbollah kidnaps Thomas Sutherland, the Dean of Agriculture at the American University of Beirut, near his home in Beirut. During six years in captivity, he faces abuse and both physical and psychological torture.
• June 14, 1985: 1 American Killed: Alleged Hezbollah members hijack TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome and shoot U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem in the head at point blank range.
• June 16, 1986: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain a U.S. citizen, John Pattis. He is released October 7, 1991.
• September 9, 1986: 1 American Kidnapped: Hezbollah kidnaps Frank Reed, the American Director of the Lebanese International School in Beirut. While in captivity, he is violently and senselessly beaten, sustaining serious injuries over the span of the 43 months preceding his release.
• September 12, 1986: 1 American Kidnapped: Hezbollah kidnaps Joseph Cicippio, the acting comptroller of the American University of Beirut. He is released on December 2, 1991.
• October 21, 1986: 1 American Kidnapped: A Hezbollah affiliate kidnaps Edward Tracy, a writer, “adventurer,” and book salesman, in Beirut. Released in early August, 1991, he demonstrates signs of considerable psychological and physical torture at the hands of his captors.
• January 24, 1987: 2 Americans Kidnapped: Hezbollah fighters posing as Lebanese policemen kidnap Jesse Turner, a professor of mathematics and computer science at Beirut University College, as well as Robert Polhill, an assistant professor of business studies at Beirut University College. Turner spends nearly five years in captivity and Polhill spends three years in captivity, enduring beatings at the hands of his captors.
• January 24, 1987: 1 American Kidnapped: Hezbollah gunmen kidnap Alann Steen, a professor of journalism at the American University of Beirut on the university’s campus in front of his wife. In captivity until December 3, 1991, he suffers beatings and both physical and psychological torture
• January 31, 1987: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S. Wall Street Journal reporter, Gerald Seib. He is released on February 4, 1987.
• June 17, 1987: 1 American Kidnapped: Iran-affiliated militants kidnap U.S. journalist Charles Glass from his vehicle in Beirut. Held for 62 days, he is chained and deprived of food and water before he ultimately escapes captivity in August 1987.
• October 16, 1987: The U.S.-registered tanker MV Sea Isle City is fired upon by an Iranian Silkworm anti-ship missile. The attack injuries the tanker’s U.S. captain and 18 other crew members.
• February 17, 1988: 1 American Kidnapped and Killed: Pro-Iran operatives with suspected Hezbollah ties kidnap U.S. Marine Corps Colonel William Higgins, who was serving as the Chief, Observer Group Lebanon and Senior Military Observer, United Nations Military Observer Group, United Nations Truce Supervision Organization. His captors hang him, and he is officially declared dead on July 6, 1990. His body is recovered on December 23, 1991.
• April 15, 1988: An Iran-laid mine in the Persian Gulf detonates underneath the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts, causing critical damage to the vessel and wounding dozens of crew members, 10 of whom sustain severe injuries.
• July 19, 1994: 3 Americans Killed: One day after Hezbollah bombs the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina, Panamanian Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901 explodes after takeoff. The crash kills all 21 individuals onboard the aircraft, including twelve Panamanian Jews and three U.S. citizens. Ansar Allah, a South America-based Hezbollah affiliate, praises the attack. Although the crime remains unsolved, authorities suspect Hezbollah orchestrated the attack.
• April 10, 1995: 1 American Killed: A Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant drives an explosive-laden van into a bus near Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip, killing one U.S. citizen, seven Israelis, and wounding 52.
• August 22, 1995: 1 American Killed: A Hamas suicide bomber kills one U.S. citizen, three other passengers, and wounds more than 100 aboard a bus in the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood in Jerusalem.
• February 25, 1996: 2 American Killed: A Hamas suicide bomber kills two U.S. citizens and wounds another aboard a bus in central Jerusalem.
• March 4, 1996: A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive vest next to Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv, killing 12 people and wounding 109, including two U.S. citizens. Both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad claim responsibility for the attack.
• May 13, 1996: 1 American Killed: Two Hamas gunmen kill teenager David Boim, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, at a bus stop near Beit-El in the West Bank. The attack also wounds one U.S. citizen and three Israelis.
• June 9, 1996: 1 American Killed: A suspected Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) gunman kills dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, Yaron Ungar, and his Israeli-wife in a drive-by shooting near their home in the West Bank.
• June 25, 1996: 20 Americans Killed: A sewage truck containing 5,000 pounds of explosives detonates close to the Khobar Tower housing complex near Dharan, Saudi Arabia, killing 20 U.S. Airmen and injuring over 400 U.S. and international servicemembers and civilians. In June 2001, the FBI indict 13 members of Hezbollah Al-Hijaz and members of Lebanese Hezbollah in connection to the terrorist attack.
• January 1997: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S. citizen Daniel Baumann. He spends nine weeks in prison.
• July 30, 1997: 1 American Killed: The Izz-el-Din al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas) claim responsibility for detonating two bombs in Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market. The attack kills 15, including a U.S. citizen, and wounds 168 others. Two U.S. citizens are among the injured.
• September 4, 1997: 1 American Killed: Three Hamas suicide bombers kill one dual U.S.-Israeli citizen and wound seven other U.S. citizens at the Ben Yehuda mall in Jerusalem.
• August 7, 1998: 12 Americans Killed: Al-Qaeda suicide bombers, having received technical and tactical assistance at Hezbollah training camps in Lebanon, detonate vehicle-borne explosives outside the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The bombings collectively kill 224 people, including 12 U.S. citizens, and wounds thousands.
• August 9, 2001: 1 American Killed: A Hamas suicide bombing kills one U.S. citizen and 14 others in the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem.
• September 11, 2001: The 9/11 Commission Report concludes that Iran “facilitated the travel of Al-Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11,” including “future 9/11 hijackers.”
• January 15, 2002: 1 American and Kidnapped and Killed: Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (Hamas) militants kidnap and kill a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen near Beit Sahur in the West Bank.
• February 16, 2002: 2 Americans Killed: A PFLP-affiliated suicide bomber kills two and wounds two U.S. citizens in an outdoor food court in Karnei Shomron, West Bank.
• March 7, 2002: A PFLP-affiliated suicide bomber wounds 10, including one U.S. citizen, in a supermarket in Ariel, West Bank.
• March 9, 2002: An al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade suicide bomber kills 11 and wounds 52, including one U.S. citizen, in a Jerusalem restaurant.
• March 21, 2002: A Palestinian Islamic Jihad suicide bomber kills three and wounds 86, including two U.S. citizens, in Jerusalem.
• March 27, 2002: 1 American Killed: A Hamas-organized suicide bombing in Netanya, Israel kills 22 individuals, including one U.S. citizen.
• March 31, 2002: An al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade suicide bomber wounds four, including a U.S. citizen near an ambulance station in Efrat, West Bank.
• June 19, 2002: An al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade suicide bomber kills six and wounds 43, including two U.S. citizens at a bus stop in Jerusalem.
• July 31, 2002: 5 Americans Killed: Hamas plants a bomb at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, killing nine, including five U.S. citizens, two of which hold dual citizenship. The attack also wounds 87, including four U.S. citizens.
• March 5, 2003: 1 American Killed: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 15, including one dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, aboard a bus in the Carmel area of Haifa.
• June 11, 2003: 1 American Killed: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 17, including one U.S. citizen on a bus in Jerusalem.
• July 10, 2003: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S. professor Dariush Zahedi. He is released on November 9, 2003.
• August 19, 2003: 5 Americans Killed: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 20, including five U.S. citizens, and injures over 100, including one U.S. citizen aboard a bus in Jerusalem.
• October 15, 2003: 3 Americans Killed: A bomb targeting a diplomatic convoy kills three U.S. personnel and injures another in Gaza. Initially, the Popular Resistance Committees associated with other Iran-backed Palestinian militias claim responsibility for the attack but later rescind the claim.
• 2003–2011: 603 Americans Killed: IRGC-backed militants kill at least 603 U.S. military personnel in Iraq, according to the Pentagon. During the “Surge,” Iranian-linked deaths increase, as Iran-supported Shia militias receive technical and material support that include explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) and improvised explosive devices (IEDS).
• August 1, 2006: 1 American Killed: A Hezbollah sniper shoots and kills Michael Levin, a U.S. citizen serving as a paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), during the Second Lebanon War.
• January 20, 2007: 5 Americans Killed, 4 Americans Kidnapped: Members of the Iraqi Shi’ite militia group, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), collaborating with the IRGC Quds Force, kill five U.S. soldiers at the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, Iraq. They initially kill one of the soldiers and kidnap four others before murdering the others in al-Mahawil and abandoning their bodies.
• March 7, 2007: 1 American Kidnapped and Killed: Robert Levinson disappears in Iran and authorities suspect he is kidnapped by the Iranian government. His family later declares him dead on March 25, 2020, despite his unknown whereabouts and condition.
• May 8, 2007: 2 Americans Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranians, Ali Shakeri and Haleh Esfandiari. Esfandiari is released on August 21, 2007 and Shakeri is released on September 25, 2007.
• May 11, 2007: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain a U.S.-Iranian scholar, Kian Tajbakhsh. He is released on September 20, 2007.
• October 31, 2007: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian, Nik Moradi. He is released on April 15, 2008.
• May 2008: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian businessman Reza Taghavi. He is released on October 16, 2010.
• October 15, 2008: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian scholar, Esha Momeni. She is released on November 10, 2008.
• January 31, 2009: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian journalist, Roxana Saberi. She is released on May 11, 2009.
• July 31, 2009: 3 Americans Kidnapped: Iranian border guards wrongfully detain U.S. citizens, Joshua Fattal, Shane Bauer, and Sarah Shourd along the Iraqi-Kurdistan border with Iran. Shourd is released on September 14, 2010, and Fattal and Bauer are released on September 21, 2011.
• September 5, 2010: The Sunday Times reports that Iran offers Taliban fighters $1,000 per U.S. soldier killed, and $6,000 per U.S. vehicle destroyed. In a six-month span, Iran pays more than $77,000 to Taliban fighters.
• December 7, 2011: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain former U.S. Marine, Amir Hekmati. He is released on January 16, 2016.
• May 13, 2012: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian, Afsaneh Azadeh. She is released in September 2012.
• May 27, 2012: The Washington Post reports that “several diplomatic staff” in the U.S. Embassy in Baku, in Azerbaijan are the targets of three Iranian-Hezbollah-orchestrated assassination plots.
• July 28, 2012: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian Christian pastor, Saeed Abedini. He is released on January 16, 2016.
• July 20 2014: 2 Americans Killed: Hamas kills two U.S. citizens serving in the IDF in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.
• July 22, 2014: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian journalist Jason Rezaian. He is released on January 16, 2016.
• 2014: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari. He is released on January 16, 2016.
• October 1, 2015: 1 American Killed: Hamas gunmen kill a U.S. citizen and his wife, living in the West Bank community of Neria, while they were in their car with their children.
• October 13, 2015: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian businessman, Siamak Namazi. He is released on September 18, 2023.
• December 8, 2015: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S. student, Matthew Trevithick. He is released on January 16, 2016.
• February 22, 2016: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S. citizen and former diplomat working for UNICEF, Baquer Namazi. He is released on October 5, 2022.
• July 11, 2016: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian, Gholamreza Shahini. He is released in 2017.
• July 20, 2016: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian, Karan Vafadari. He is released on July 21, 2018.
• August 8, 2016: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Chinese academic, Xiyue Wang. He is released on December 7, 2019.
• July 2017: Ahmadreza Mohammadi-Doostdar, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, and Majid Ghorbani, meet in California, planning to surveil Iranian dissidents, including dual U.S.-Iranian citizens affiliated with Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and to pass information to Tehran, likely for targeting for kidnapping or assassination.
• January 2018: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian businessman and conservationist, Morad Tahbaz. He is released on September 18, 2023.
• April 23, 2018: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain U.S.-Iranian businessman, Emad Shargi. He is released on September 18, 2023.
• July 2018: 1 American Kidnapped: Iranian authorities wrongfully detain a U.S. Navy veteran, Michael White. He is released on June 4, 2020.
• December 27, 2019: 1 American Killed: Kataib Hezbollah fires rockets toward the U.S. K1 military base in Kirkuk, Iraq, killing one U.S. security contractor and wounding fourS. service members, as well as Iraqi personnel.
• January 8, 2020: Iran launches ballistic missiles targeting the al-Asad Air Base in Iraq, causing over 100 traumatic brain injuries among U.S. service members.
• January 26, 2020: Iran-affiliated Shiite militias in Iraq, most likely Kataib Hezbollah, fire rockets and mortars against the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, wounding one U.S. citizen and damaging a building.
• February 15, 2021: The Iran-backed Shia group “Guardians of the Blood Brigade” launches a rocket attack against coalition forces stationed in Erbil, Iraq, wounding a U.S. servicemember and four U.S. civilian contractors.
• July 8, 2021: Iran-backed militias carry out at least three rocket and drone attacks in the span of 24 hours against U.S. forces stationed in Iraq and Syria, wounding two U.S. service members.
• July 14, 2021: The Southern District of New York indicts four alleged Iranian operatives for attempting to kidnap and transport U.S.-Iranian journalist and dissident Masih Alinejad via speedboat to Venezuela and then to Iran.
• 2022: Iran-recruited and -supported hitmen tried to assassinate Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
• August 5, 2022: The Department of Justice unseals a criminal complaint against IRGC member Shahram Poursafi for plotting to assassinate Trump’s first term National Security Advisor, John Bolton.
• September 28, 2022: 1 American Killed: Iran launches a combined missile, rocket, and drone attack, killing a U.S. citizen in Iraqi Kurdistan.
• November 7, 2022: 1 American Killed: An IRGC captain arranges the killing of a U.S. citizen working at the Global English Institute in Baghdad.
• January 27, 2023: Authorities charge three men in a Tehran-orchestrated murder-for-hire plot to assassinate U.S.-Iranian journalist and dissident Masih Alinejad in New York.
• March 23, 2023: 1 American Killed: An Iranian drone, likely launched by IRGC forces or an IRGC affiliate, kills a U.S. contractor and wounds five U.S. service members when it strikes a Coalition base near Hasakah, Syria.
• October 7, 2023: 47 Americans Killed, 12 Americans Kidnapped: Hamas kills at least 47 and kidnaps 12 U.S. citizens in an attack that murders over 1,200 people throughout Israel. At least one U.S. citizen succumbed to wounds sustained on 10/7 over one year later.
• October 18, 2023: Iran-backed groups wound at least 24 U.S. personnel in drone attacks targeting the al-Tanf and al-Asad military bases in Syria and Iraq.
• December 25, 2023: Iran-backed groups in Iraq, including Kataib Hezbollah, launch a one-way attack drone at Erbil Air Base, wounding three U.S. service members.
• January 20, 2024: An Iran-backed militia launch ballistic missiles and rockets, wounding several U.S. personnel and one Iraqi service member at the al-Asad Air Base.
• January 28, 2024: 3 Americans Killed: The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, launch a one-way attack drone, killing three Army National Guard soldiers and injuring at least 40 others at a U.S. logistics support base located at Tower 22 in northeastern Jordan.
• August 5, 2024: Iran-backed groups launch two rockets, wounding five U.S. servicemembers and two U.S. contractors at the al-Asad Air Base.
• August 9, 2024: Iran-backed groups launch a drone attack on the Rumalyn Landing Zone in Syria, causing minor injuries to several U.S. personnel.
• August 29-30, 2024: 1 American Killed: Hamas kills hostage and dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, while in captivity in Gaza.
• November 8, 2024: The Department of Justice charges Farhad Shakeri, an Iranian national associated with the regime in Tehran, with plotting and attempting to organize the murder of both President Trump and U.S.-Iranian journalist and dissident Masih Alinejad.
• July 5, 2025: Hamas affiliates lob grenades at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution site, injuring two U.S. aid workers.