The United States announced “consistent” retaliation on Monday after a drone strike in Jordan attributed to pro-Iranian groups left three US soldiers dead. Tehran denied any involvement in the attack, which came in an already explosive regional context.
• Also read: Biden is under pressure to respond to the deaths of US soldiers in Jordan
• Also read: American soldiers killed in Jordan: Iran denies any involvement
• Also read: Three American soldiers killed in Jordan
President Joe Biden will respond “very consistently,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on CNN, while asserting that the United States is not seeking “war with Iran” or “a major conflict in the Middle East.” “.
The US president met with senior officials on Monday to discuss the situation, including Jake Sullivan, his national security adviser, Brett McGurk, his Middle East adviser and his defense secretary Lloyd Austin.
“Have no doubt: We will hold all those responsible accountable when and how we want,” he warned the day before, accusing groups “backed by Iran” of being behind the attack.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a mist of fighters from pro-Iranian armed groups, claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks “with drones” on three bases in Syrian territory where American soldiers were stationed, particularly naming the Al-Iraq sectors. Tanf and Al-Tanf Rukban, near the border with Jordan.
It is immediately difficult to determine whether any of these attacks were actually the one that killed three American soldiers and wounded 34 in northeastern Jordan.
Amman says “terrorist” attack
These are the first deaths of American soldiers in an attack since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7. They are raising fears of escalation in the region as they battle unrest in the Gaza Strip, which is under Israeli fire.
Jordan condemned a “terrorist” attack and Saudi Arabia reiterated its “unwavering support for intensifying international efforts” against “extremism” on Monday.
According to the American army, the attack hit “Tower 22,” a logistics base on Jordanian territory that is located directly opposite the Rukban area in Syrian territory. This position hosts 350 U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force personnel conducting support missions.
Since mid-October, pro-Iranian armed groups have fired rockets and used drones against the forces of Washington and the international anti-jihadist coalition, suffering more than 165 attacks, a direct impact of the war in Gaza between Israel, an ally of Washington and Israel the Palestinian Hamas, supported by Tehran.
Tehran “has no connection and has nothing to do with the attack on the American base,” Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations responded.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said it did not want “the expansion of the conflict in the Middle East,” according to its spokesman Nasser Kanani, assuring that Iran was not involved in the decisions of “resistance groups about how they support the Palestinian nation.”
“Spiral of violence”
Most attacks on American soldiers have been attributed to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. The group said it acted on Sunday to “resist” American forces in Iraq and the region and “in response to the massacres” in the Gaza Strip.
The Iraqi armed group Al-Noujaba, which says it is participating in the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” called on Monday for the United States to “learn its lesson and leave (…).” For every day that passes away, they will pay a heavy price.”
A base of the US-led international anti-jihadist coalition in Shaddadi, northeastern Syria, was attacked by “multiple rockets” that caused no casualties or damage, according to an American official.
In Syria's far east, “groups of pro-Iranian fighters have evacuated 12 positions” in the Boukamal and al-Mayadine regions, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said on Monday.
According to this source, the transfers were motivated by “fear of an American reaction” after the deaths of the three soldiers.
Washington had already carried out several attacks against fighters from pro-Iranian armed groups in Iraq in retaliation for attacks on its personnel.
Just like in Yemen, where bombings were carried out on Houthi rebel positions targeting international maritime traffic off the coast of Yemen.
Baghdad on Monday condemned the deadly attack on American soldiers in Jordan while calling for “stopping the spiral of violence in the Middle East.”
The attack was also condemned by Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, France and the United Kingdom, whose diplomatic chief David Cameron called on Iran to “de-escalate the region.”