The Long War
Iran has been at war with the United State since 1979. What happened 30 years ago, on 25 June 1996, is but one of hundreds of acts of war by Iran.
A bit before 2145 local time on 25 June 1996, a fuel truck was driven into the parking lot of Building 131 at the Khobar Towers military housing complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It was followed by a white car.
The truck driver jumped into the white car, which immediately drove off. Moments later, an explosion estimated at ten tons of TNT detonated. At the time, roughly 2,000 US Air Force personnel were housed there. Nineteen Airmen were killed. Over 500 people were wounded.
The evidence strongly suggests the explosives were smuggled into Saudi Arabia by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, operating out of the Bekaa Valley with direct assistance from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Saudi Hezbollah al-Hejaz, an Iranian-backed terrorist group, conducted reconnaissance on the complex at least forty times prior to the attack.
The FBI believes the operation was planned over a three-year period with approval at the highest levels of the Iranian government. The goal was to drive US military forces out of Saudi Arabia.
Over time, US courts weighing the evidence have found Iran guilty of the bombing and the murder of US Airmen:
2006: A U.S. federal court found Hezbollah and Iran guilty and ordered Iran to pay $254.5 million to the families of those killed.
2018: Iran was again held responsible and ordered by a US Federal Court to pay victims $104.7 million.
2020: A U.S. District Court cited evidence that Iran aided Hezbollah and ordered Iran to pay $879 million in damages.
In 1991, my unit was in Building 131 as we redeployed to the US after Operation Desert Storm.
Further Reading
Beirut Rules by Fred Burton and Samuel L. Katz
The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
The Secret War With Iran by Ronen Bergman
#AmericanHistory #TheLongWar #KhobarTowers
About that time(?) a Russian Embassy attache was kidnapped in Beirut The Russian demanded that he be returned within 24 hours. The next day his body was dumped at the Russian embassy gate.
Within a few weeks 250 people connected to the group that murdered the Russian were killed. No more kidnappings.
Iran is a Shia minority among Sunni (85 v. 15).
No surprise it has social cohesion expected of such a survivor.
But let's not elevate intransigence from "nuisance" to "rival."
America is today guarantor of world order.
So until Iran rejoins the civilized world, we're obliged keep track of troublemakers, brick missile tubes and interdict nuclear materials.
Today Iran is an irritation, Russia is a thug state, and PRC is a troubled "wannabe-peer."
But in perspective, the world is better off today than it has been in a long while.