In 1996, Senator Joe Biden spoke of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps(IRGC) deadly bombing as an “act of war,” which gave the United States the latitude to respond with any level of force it considered necessary. This is very different from Biden’s current opinion of President Trump’s order to kill Qasem Soleimani.

During an interview with Sam Donaldson on ABC News, Biden expressed his views — even before the United States officials determined the IRGC was responsible for the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia which killed 19 U.S. airmen and wounded 500 others — that if Iran was behind the attack, it would yield its sovereignty.

“[The United States] could take whatever action it deems appropriate,” said Biden. “They yield their sovereignty if they are [behind the attack] … it’s an act of war.”

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Soleimani was top commander of the IRGC, and was found responsible for the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers. In 2018, a federal judge ordered Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to pay $104.7 million to victims though it was unclear how and when the plantiffs could collect. In 2006, another judge ordered Iran to pay $254.4 million to the victims’ family members and their estates.

On Thursday, Biden condemned President Trump’s decision to launch an airstrike on Soleimani, calling it a “huge escalatory move in an already dangerous region.”

On Thursday evening, Biden said in a statement, “President Trump just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox, and he owes the American people an explanation of the strategy and plan to keep safe our troops and embassy personnel, our people and our interests, both here at home and abroad, and our partners throughout the region and beyond. I’m not privy to the intelligence and much remains unknown, but Iran will surely respond. We could be on the brink of a major conflict across the Middle East. I hope the Administration has thought through the second- and third-order consequences of the path they have chosen. But I fear this Administration has not demonstrated at any turn the discipline or long-term vision necessary — and the stakes could not be higher.” 

Biden also opposed the raid on Osama bin Laden in 2011.