Are there any documented cases of Iranians carrying out terrorist attacks on U.S. soil killing U.S. citizens?

I cannot find a single documented case in which Iranian nationals carried out a terrorist attack on U.S. soil that killed U.S. citizens. The documented deaths of Americans attributed to Iran or Iran-backed groups have occurred overwhelmingly overseas, primarily in war zones.

According to Pentagon assessments and other government records, over the past four and a half decades Iran and Iran-backed groups have been responsible for roughly 900 American deaths. The overwhelming majority were military personnel.

Now…since the current debate is about Saudi Arabia acquiring a nuclear program, let’s talk about Saudi Arabia for a minute.

Twenty-five years ago, terrorists struck the United States. Of the 2,977 Americans murdered on September 11, approximately 125 were U.S. military personnel. More than 2,800 were civilians.

And who were the terrorists?

Of the 19 hijackers, 15 were from Saudi Arabia. The other four were from Egypt, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates. The mastermind behind the attacks, Osama bin Laden, was from Saudi Arabia.

Anyone else see something odd about this?

So I asked myself, are there connections…or at least “dots”? Here’s what I came up with:

• Iran is an enemy of Israel
• Iran is an enemy of Saudi Arabia
• Iran is an enemy of the United States
• Israel is an ally of the United States
• Saudi Arabia is an ally of the United States
• Israel has a nuclear weapons program
• The United States has a nuclear weapons program
• Saudi Arabia wants a nuclear program
• Iran does not possess nuclear weapons

Here is an oddity that I found interesting…historically, Saudi Arabia and Israel were on opposite sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict from 1945 – 1973. But, in 1979 the Iranian Revolution began changing that relationship. As Iran expanded its military capabilities and regional influence, Saudi Arabia and Israel started finding themselves sharing the same strategic concerns.

Why? I am not entirely sure. But…

Saudi Arabia and Iran are two different branches of Islam. Sunni (Saudi Arabia) and Shia (Iran) Muslims have a religious divide that has existed for nearly 1,400 years. That difference has resulted in intense hostility and even resulted in war with each other during that time.

Hang in there with me…

There is also a deep cultural difference…Iran is predominately Persian and Saudi Arabia is predominately Arab. There is a historical cultural-based conflict between Persians and Arabs that predates Islam.

And one last interesting tidbit…

There is also a conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia in terms of government. Iran is an Islamic revolutionary republic, while Saudi Arabia is an Islamic hereditary monarchy. Both are influenced by religion, but they represent very different systems of government and competing visions of leadership in the Muslim world.

Does all that explain the current nuclear program dilemma? No. At least not entirely…in my opinion.

And then the other shoe dropped…

What if a close and reliable friend of mine stuck their nose in my conversation and said, “What about Trump’s business dealings with Saudi Arabia?” Then they promptly walked away.

Well I looked into that. These are all verifiable facts:

• 2017 – Trump’s first year as President – Saudi Arabian officials began spending significant amounts of money at Trump properties.
• January 21, 2021 (the day after Trump’s first term ended) – Jared Kushner (Trumps’ son-in-law) forms Affinity Partners. Just a few months later Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund commits $2 billion to the firm.
• A couple months before Trump was elected President (July 2024) the Trump Organization and Saudi developer Dar Global announced Trump Tower Jeddah. Dar Global is the international arm of Saudi real estate company Dar Al Arkan. Trump Tower Jeddah is being built in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
• December 2024 – The month after Trump was elected President – Two additional Trump-branded projects were announced for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
• January 2026 – The month before the US went to war against Iran – Trump International Golf Club/Wadi Safar and Trump Plaza Jeddah were formally unveiled.

Look, I am not saying Trump’s considerable business connections with Saudi Arabia, worth billions of dollars, has influenced Trump’s foreign policies and military actions. I have no evidence that it did or didn’t.

But…Saudi Arabia is about to get a nuclear program but we went to war to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear program.

Don’t you find it all a bit odd?