Assassination of Paul R. Shaffer and John H. Turner

In 2005 a memorial was built by the War on Terror Foundation to honor Col. Shaffer. In 2017, the family of Jack Turner filed a $35 million lawsuit against the MEK and Iran.

In response to the assassinations, the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) set up surveillance detection and antiterrorism efforts to protect American defense personnel in Iran. In 1976, this protective mission was expanded to include civilians, after three American civilian contractors for Rockwell International were assassinated.

On 21 May 1975, terrorists stopped the car carrying Colonel Shaffer and Lieutenant Colonel John H Turner. One vehicle blocked the car from the front while another vehicle rammed it from behind. They ordered the Iranian driver to lie down, and then shot and killed the Americans at point-blank range. The shooting happened when the two officers were on their way to work at an Iranian military base in south Tehran. Hours after the attack, American officials received an anonymous call, which said the assassinations were retaliation for “Government atrocities against political prisoners”. The Iranian government identified the terrorists as “young leftists” (according to another source it said “Marxist guerrillas”).

According to the US ambassador to Iran, Richard Helms, the American presence in Iran during the 1970s was too large, estimated at 10,000–40,000 people. American personnel and arms had relocated to Iran due to the arms embargo against Turkey and withdrawal of Americans from Vietnam.

Colonel Paul R. Shaffer (1930–1975) was a United States military aide to Iran who served as an air force pilot in both Korea and Vietnam. In 1975, he was assassinated along with Lieutenant Colonel Jack H. Turner. Vahid Afrakhteh, a founding member of Peykar, confessed to the killing and later was executed. Nevertheless, some sources have said the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) was responsible.