To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

In August of 1996 then-Sen. Joe Biden said the U.S. “can take whatever action it deems appropriate” to respond to an Iranian attack on US military barracks in Tehran.

Iranian agents blew up the Khobar Towers dormitory used by U.S. Air Force personnel in Saudi Arabia in 1996. Biden referred to the action as an “act of war” and claimed the U.S. could “take whatever action it deems appropriate” during a interview on ABC’s This Week.

You can watch a clip from the interview above.