State-sponsored terrorism is a form of coercion, backed up by the threat and use of violence. These terrorist tactics also involve signaling of intentions and responses between the terrorist sponsor and those whom it targets. This study examined Iranian state sponsorship of anti-US terrorism in the period 1980-1990 as an example of political communication aimed at manipulating US policy through the threat and use of violence. The study quantitatively analyzed the content of official Iranian media to demonstrate their systematic use of threat-projections as warnings and indications to the United States. Anti-US terrorist actions did not increase as spontaneous reactions to perceived threats from either the United States or the West in general; the actions resulted from the deliberate calculations and decisions of certain identifiable individuals or groups associated with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tables, figure, notes