Has Iran started any wars

Answer 1

Yes. Most recently, it fought Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988. It is also engaged in a long-term proxy war with Israel, resulting the assassinations of Iranian scientists and Israeli diplomats and the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War.

Answer 2

The Imperial State of Iran (1935-1979) and the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979-Present) have not themselves started any international conflicts. They have, however, been responsible for internal military action both against armed belligerents and unarmed protesters, funded proxy organizations which have themselves started wars, and supported regimes in other countries which have started wars. (The Iran-Iraq War, which was the largest Iranian war in recent history, was caused by Iraq's invasion of Iranian Khuzestan.)

The largest war that Iran caused directly is the Iranian-Baloch insurgency. Repression of Baloch rights in the southeast of the country has led the Baloch to take up arms against the Republican Guard which had previously been harassing them. Similar confrontations occurred nearly 70 years ago in northwestern Iran as concerns the Kurds.

Hezbollah and, more recently, Hamas have direct funding from Iran along with objectives attached to those funds (with which these organizations are all too willing to apply). They have manifested belligerent behavior against Israel such as rocket/missile attacks on civilians and kidnapping of soldiers. Additionally these organizations have also started wars against fellow Lebanese (Hezbollah) and fellow Palestinians and Egyptians (Hamas) in pursuit of increased political power in those places.

Iran directly supports the Assad Regime in Syria which is fighting a relentless war against those Syrians who would wish to see more democratic reforms in the country. Iran urges the Syrians to "fight strongly against those terrorists".