how long can jordan’s government pretend it's neutral?
jordan says it is neutral in the us-iran war. the american forces operating from its territory say otherwise.
On July 16, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi appeared at the Aspen Security Forum and explained why thousands of American soldiers were operating from his country. They were there under a defense cooperation agreement, he said, one that respected Jordanian sovereignty and supported the shared fight against terrorism. Jordan was not a party to the war between the United States and Iran.
The next day, two American service members were killed and a third went missing when Iranian missiles and drones struck Muwaffaq Salti Air Base near Azraq. Four more were hospitalized. It was the fourth Iranian attack on American forces in Jordan in five days. Earlier strikes had already wounded US personnel and damaged American assets.
The attack came during the renewed phase of a war that began on February 28, paused under an interim agreement in June and resumed on July 8. Muwaffaq Salti had been built into an American strike hub before the first attack on Iran and returned to that role when the fighting restarted.
Counterterrorism does not require a force assembled for a major air war. Ahead of the February attack, the United States concentrated at least 66 fighter jets at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base. Experts examining commercial satellite images identified 18 F-35 stealth fighters, 17 F-15s and eight A-10 attack aircraft, alongside EA-18 electronic-warfare jets and military cargo planes.
These were not planes sent to chase Islamic State cells through the desert. F-35s and electronic-attack aircraft are built to penetrate defended airspace, blind radar and break a state’s air defenses. Muwaffaq Salti may have been expanded for the war against ISIS, but by February it had become one of the main land bases for the American air war against Iran.
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