Ah, yes, for scatter brained leftists, history began on November 8, 2016, anything that happened before that date cannot possibly be connected to Donald Trump so all of it is irrelevant.
Iran became a problem over 40 years ago.
During the 1960s and 70s, Iran purchased military hardware from the US from private contractors through a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) account with the US - mainly American made aircraft and weaponry. This was largely paid for with income from oil exports which was Iran’s main source of income.
By 1978, Iran was in the throes of revolution and defaulted on payments to the FMS fund. Emerging Iranian leaders canceled orders on major weapons systems. The US continued to carry the FMS and paid some contractors with funds diverted from other areas. While in default the revolution in Iran progressed, foreign-owned properties were confiscated and nationalized.
In 1979, after revolutionaries overthrew the Shah's administration and took American hostages, president Jimmy Carter banned Iranian oil imports and froze approximately 11 billion 1980-US dollars of its assets, and the United States ended its economic and diplomatic ties with Iran.
In October 1983, an Iranian "asset" drove a truck loaded with explosives into the US Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 Marines. In 1984, the US State Department designated Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Throughout the 1990s, Iran carried out a series of attacks on Iranian dissenters known as the chain killings. These took place both inside and outside the country known as, “extrajudicial killings.” The most famous of these is the assassination of the Shapour Bakhtiar in France and the Mykonos incident in Germany. Iran also continued to build up its military apparatus and nuclear program with black market goods as well as ongoing sponsorship for terrorist aggression. One of the most famous 1990s attacks that took place was the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. By 2001, numerous banks, companies, terror organization, mosques, charities, and individuals had assets blocked and frozen by OFAC constituting lists of entities providing material aid to Iran or illegally trying to access the US financial system from Iran. The September 11 attacks on the US brought about the US decision to hold foreign governments accountable in domestic courts.
US President Bush and later President Obama issued legislation making Iran’s government accountable for acts of terrorism through the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) and later the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) which meant that survivors and family members who lost someone in a kidnapping or terror attack or extrajudicial killing could file claims on the Iranian government for damages and then attach writs to Iranian properties held in the US for those damages. This means that not only could hostages and victims of bombings file claims against Iran, but all of the Iranians who had suffered attacks from 1979 onwards, including from the 1980s reign of terror, the chain killings of the 1990s, and so on. Some like the wife of Shapour Bakhtiar whose husband was killed in France sued Iran through both France and the United States courts.A History of Iranian attacks on AmericansThere is no question that, without restrictions or concern for the lives of Americans or anyone else, we should make damned sure the world's premier state sponsor of terrorism - the "DEATH TO AMERICA" crowd - has all the money they need to pursue their goals.
Ah, yes, for scatter brained leftists, history beg... (