In October 2000 – less than a year before the September 11, 2001 attacks – a small fiberglass boat pulled alongside the USS Cole while it was refueling during a routine stop in Aden Harbor, Yemen. Two suicide bombers detonated explosives packed into the boat, tearing a 40-by-60-foot hole in the ship's hull. Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed, and 39 others were injured.
The attack was part of al-Qaeda's broader campaign against U.S. military presence in the Middle East.
"To my knowledge there is no direct connection to Iran," says retired Navy Commander Kirk Lippold, who commanded the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer at the time of the attack.
"However, there is intel out there and court cases that over the years, Iran did provide material support to al-Qaeda for conducting those operations," Lippold continues. "Whether Cole was directly affected by that is unknown, but some of the families have taken Iran to court because of that and have won court cases."
He is mindful that while Osama bin Laden and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were both Muslim, the terrorist network was Sunni, and the Iranians are Shia.
Historical and modern conflicts exist between the two, but they are mostly political.
"There is a fundamental difference between those two religions, and they have gone to blows over the centuries," Lippold notes. "So, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so to speak; so long as someone was going after the United States, it wouldn't surprise me if Iran was, in fact, helping al-Qaeda."
The suicide attack on the USS Cole was one of the most significant terrorist attacks against the U.S. military before 9/11 and highlighted the escalating threat posed by Osama bin Laden's network.
