Iran shot down an American surveillance drone in June 2019 and also attacked two cargo ships in the Gulf of Oman, which has bought Iran and the United States closer to political crisis. The difficulties that these two countries are facing are both economic and diplomatic in addition to military.
But the course that these two countries are taking had been put into place a year ago, during which time President Trump, while trying to enforce his stance against Tehran given the name “maximum pressure”, withdrew the US from the agreement made while Obama was president that was created to restrain the nuclear ambitions of Iran.
It’s pretty much like the Trump administration is slapping Iran directly on the face, and Iran has been giving warnings to the United States that there would be consequences for this. The economy in Iran is already riddled by corruption, brain drain, endemic mismanagement, and cronyism. The sanctions that would be placed against Iran are only making things worse.
In the next section, you’ll find an Iran timeline of attacks and the events that led to them.
8 May 2018
On this day, Trump continued on his path of fulfilling his campaign promises and issued a statement that said that he would be withdrawing the US from a nuclear deal with Iran, this would result in the dismantling of the signature foreign policy that Barack Obama achieved. During this time, Trump stated that America would bring back sanctions it placed against Iran preceding the deal that was made with Obama and might consider creating new ones too.
The deal that Trump was dismantling created tight restrictions on Iran’s pursuit of becoming a nuclear power; this deal was set based on the United States getting rid of the sanctions that were enforced.
The Iranian government stated that Iran would continue to conform to the deal and the terms that came with it. The Iranian president then criticized Trump for removing the States from this deal along with other treaties that were created internationally.
8 April 2019
Trump made an announcement that he would be designating part of the powerful section of the Iranian military as a foreign terrorist organization.
This statement was the first time the US made claims that the government in another country was an official threat. This announcement created a wide range of travel and economic sanctions against the group.
This group trains the Arab Shiite militia, operates throughout the Middle East, and they even watch over business in Iran. The sanctions that were placed extended to individuals, companies, and organizations that worked with the Revolutionary Guards.
This designation created began April 15th and has the potential of expanding the scale and scope of the pressure on the Iranian regime.
In response to the United States, the Iranian group that has now been designated as a terrorist group said that they would be designating the US Central Command as a terrorist organization, this group oversees all Middle East military operations performed by America.
The American response to Iran was that they had begun to see increased threats pointed toward their force in the country, in addition to reports that claim Shiite militias, backed by Iran, were thinking about attacks on the American forces in Iraq.
5 May 2019
On this day, there was an announcement that stated the US would be sending Air Force bombers and an aircraft carrier strike group into the Middle East due to troubling warnings and indications coming out of Iran.
The deployment meant to send an unmistakable and clear message that any Iran attack against the United States or those on the U.S. allies would be met with relentless force.
In response, there was a cargo ship attack on four oil tankers in the Persian Gulf that is said to have been an Iran attack.
8 May 2019
A year after Trump announced the United States would be walked away from the nuclear deal, also, new sanctions against Iran were set into place – targeting the metal industry in Iran. Around the same time, the administration targeted Iranian oil exports by ordering countries to cease purchasing oil from Iran or receive sanctions themselves.
In response to this, Iran increased its production of nuclear fuel to the point that was deemed a threat before they too pulled out of the nuclear deal.
24 May 2019
It was ordered by Trump that an additional 1,500 troops would be going to the Middle East as a way to increase protection for American forces that were already in place. He also made an emergency declaration over Iran, which circumvented Congress.
13 June 2019
There were alleged Iranian attacks in the Gulf of Oman on two Japanese oil tankers. There was some video footage released that reportedly showed an Iranian patrol boat that pulled up next to one of the ships many hours after the attack and removed an unexploded limpet mine during the day. It is said that this proves Iran planted the mine and initiated the attack.
In response to this, crude oil prices increased by more than three percent, thus indirectly increasing the revenue Iran would receive as a producer of oil.
17 June 2019
It was authorized by the Pentagon that another 1,000 troops would be deployed to the Middle East, in their possession were fighter jets, missile batteries, and surveillance assets.
Mere hours before this announcement occurred, Iran states that it was about ten days from violating the containment deal that was created in 2015. This means that the Iranian stockpile of low-enriched uranium was about to exceed what was previously authorized.
20 June 2019
In the early hours of the morning, a surface-to-air missile that belonged to Iran struck a Navy RQ-4 Global Hawk – which is a surveillance drone that does not have a pilot. It was flying over the Strait of Hormuz at a high altitude. Immediately, the United States was accused of patrolling over Iran’s territorial waters. The strike was deemed unprovoked by the Pentagon and stated that the drone was well within international airspace.
That’s as far as the Iranian attack timeline goes so far. As tensions continue to build, we’re sure to see more attacks by Iran against the United States and their allies. While we might not know what types of attacks are coming, we do know that they are going to cause an uproar between the U.S. and Iran. With tensions already so high, it’s unknown what’s going to happen next.