Iran's Record
Why Containment is an Unreliable Policy:
The Record of the Iranian Regime
The Islamic Republic of Iran was established through a revolutionary ousting of the sitting government in 1979. Iran's leaders believe that the Mahdi, or Messiah, will return in human form and conquer the world in an apocalyptic battle.[1]
(See point 1a on the front page.)
The following timeline highlights key events in the Iranian regime's history which show how far it is willing to go to achieve its goals.
| 1979 - Present: | Commits countless, severe human rights violations. |
| 1979 - Present: | Executes 4,000 members of the LGBT community.[2] |
| 1979 - 1982: | Executes approximately 4,000 political opponents.[3] |
| 1980s: | Takes 139 people hostage, including 69 American, 15 French, 14 British, 7 Swiss, and 7 West German citizens.[4] |
| 1980 - 1988: | Uses child soldiers to clear minefields by stepping on mines during the Iran-Iraq war. [5] Iranian officials claim there were 36,000 "child martyrs" during the war. [6] |
| 1983: | April: Commits suicide attack on the U.S. embassy in Beirut: 63 killed, 17 Americans.[7] October: Commits suicide attack on U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut: 241 Americans killed [8] (highest number of U.S. Marine casualties in one day since World War II).[9] October: Commits suicide attack on French peacekeepers in Beirut: 58 killed. [10] |
| 1984: | April: Attacks a restaurant near a U.S. Air Force base in Spain: 18 U.S. soldiers killed, 83 injured. [11] September: Attacks the U.S. embassy annex in Beirut: 24 killed. [12] |
| 1988: | Executes 5,000 people, many of them political prisoners, after "show trials."[13] |
| 1992: | March: Attacks the Israeli embassy in Argentina: 29 killed.[14] September: Assassinates Iranian Kurdish leaders in Germany: 4 killed. [15] |
| 1994: | July: Attacks a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires: 86 killed. [16] |
| 1996: | June: Attacks the U.S. military facility of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia: 19 killed, 372 injured.[17] |
| 2000 - Present: | Helps Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organizations carry out hundreds of terrorist attacks and fire thousands of rockets against civilians in Israel. [18] |
| 2003 - Present: | Provides financial and material support to insurgents who killed thousands of NATO troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. [19] |
| 2005: | Creates the "Lovers of Martyrdom" organization to train men and women to carry out attacks against the "enemies of Islam." An estimated 52,000 people reportedly join the group. [20] |
| 2011: | Plots to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States at a popular restaurant in Washington, D.C. The plot is thwarted. [21] |
| 2012: | January: Commits attempted attack on Israelis in Azerbaijan: Thwarted. [22] February: Attacks Israeli diplomats in New Delhi: 4 injured. [23] February: Commits attempted attack on the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia: Thwarted. [24] February: Commits attempted attack on Israeli diplomats in Bangkok, Thailand: Fails.[25] March: Plots to attack Western and Israeli embassies and companies in Azerbaijan: Thwarted. [26] |
