Biden Admin Retaliated 4 Times Against 83 Attacks by Iran and Proxies: Defense Secretary

During his testimony in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated that the current administration of Joe Biden had responded four times to over 83 attacks by Iran and its proxies. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) posed question to Austin, asking how many times Iran or its proxies had launched attacks against U.S. positions in Iraq and Syria since Biden took office. To that, the Secretary replied “83 attacks.” Cotton then asked how many times the U.S. retaliated against Iran or its proxies, to which Austin replied “we’ve launched four major strikes.”

The Secretary confirmed that the U.S. retaliations had not caused Iran to cease their aggressive actions against American troops.

A Detailed History of Conflict Between the U.S. and Iran

Although the United States has never officially declared war on Iran, the two countries have often faced off on Middle Eastern battlegrounds. Iran is considered one of the U.S.’s top enemies, along with China, Russia, and North Korea. Preventing Iran from gaining access to nuclear weapons has long been a top strategic priority for the United States as it would present a significant threat to U.S. allies in the region.

In 1979, Iran provoked an international crisis by taking over the U.S. embassy and holding U.S. citizens hostage for almost six weeks.

In 2020, the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani was ordered by President Donald Trump, leading to missile strikes by Iran on U.S. military bases in Iraq as a response.

In recent days, tensions between the two nations have escalated again. On March 23, Iranian-backed militants carried out a drone strike in northeastern Syria, leaving one American dead and six others injured. On the same day, the United States responded with a drone strike on two militant strongholds, leading to an unspecified number of combatant deaths. The U.S. Congress was not informed of the strike, which caused some controversy. During his testimony, Austin admitted that they should have notified Congress.

After the U.S. counterattack, Iran-backed militants conducted a rocket strike on a U.S. base in eastern Syria on March 24. Senator Cotton asked Austin if they had retaliated for the attack, to which Austin replied that they had not yet done so.

The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan aroused allegations from Republican Party members that Biden was “soft” on China and Russia, resulting in emboldening U.S. adversaries. Taliban regained control of billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. military hardware after the withdrawal, which was ordered by Biden’s administration on their own schedule in August 2021.