{"id":64424,"date":"2020-01-03T18:36:32","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T18:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/03\/as-tensions-spike-with-iran-a-look-at-how-we-got-here\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:58:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:58:05","slug":"as-tensions-spike-with-iran-a-look-at-how-we-got-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/01\/03\/as-tensions-spike-with-iran-a-look-at-how-we-got-here\/","title":{"rendered":"As tensions spike with Iran, a look at how we got here"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A spate of provocative incidents by Iran and U.S. responses<\/a> came to a head Thursday night, when a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle strike took out one of Iran\u2019s top generals as he arrived at the Baghdad airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani\u2019s<\/a> assassination was the direct result of escalating attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq in recent months, but the organization he represented has been needling the American military<\/a> for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow dangerous the interactions are is relative. This type of demonstrative action is something that was fairly common during the Cold War,\u201d Anthony Cordesman, an Iran expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told Navy Times in 2016, after a series of close calls between U.S. ships and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy in the Persian Gulf. \u201cWhenever you want to assert yourself as a power you can do so fairly safely. The worst that happens is a limited combat action or a collision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, IRGCN boats had confronted American ships four times over two days, once provoking warning shots from the coastal patrol ship Squall. Earlier that year, members of the IRGCN took captive 10 Navy riverines<\/a>, accusing them of spying after mechanical issues caused their boats to drift into Iranian waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\t