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As everyone already heard, recently Iran launched a missile strike on US military bases in Iraq. US didn't answer with anything but tweets.
Is it the first time after Cuban Missile Crisis, when armed strike on US forces remain unanswered with power? I mean that it is not anonymous strike from anonymous militant groups - it is fully authorized strike from another state, with advanced weapons.
PS While Cuban crisis US U-2 scout jet was downed by Soviet SAM missile systems.
It depends how you define "strike", but the North Korean capture of USS Pueblo came after the Cuban crisis. And during the capture Pueblo came under fire, resulting in the death of one crew:
The North Korean vessels attempted to board Pueblo, but she was maneuvered to prevent this for over two hours. A submarine chaser then opened fire with a 57 mm cannon, killing one member of the crew. The smaller vessels fired machine guns into Pueblo, which then signaled compliance and began destroying sensitive material.
The US did not retaliate militarily, as far as I know.
Likewise for the North Korean 1969 shootdown of EC-121 . The US did dispatch a large naval task force in response, and prepared plans to strike at NK airfields and various other targets, but ultimately that did not happen:
In the end, no action was taken against the North Koreans in the days following the attack. The new Nixon administration had little to no information about the location and availability of both U.S. and North Korean forces, as the administration had difficulty communicating with those in the Pacific. By the time this information was communicated to the planners, it was too late to react.[6] Both Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were ashamed at the outcome of the event, with Kissinger revealing that "our conduct in the EC-121 crisis as weak, indecisive and disorganized."[6] Once it became clear that no action would be taken against the North Koreans, Nixon promised that "they’ll [North Koreans] never get away with it again," and ordered a "resumption of aerial reconnaissance flights."[6]
As everyone already hear. False. I had not heard about it until I read this question.