Air raid sirens sounded again in parts of Jordan early Tuesday as Iranian missiles were launched toward the kingdom.
The military announced that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed three missiles that had entered Jordanian airspace from Iranian territory.
No casualties were reported, but the latest barrage follows a series of attacks that have heightened tensions for one of the United States’ closest Arab allies. Just days earlier, an Iranian missile strike on a U.S. base in Jordan killed two American service members and injured about 30 others.
Jordan is among the eight Arab nations that host permanent U.S. military installations. Other host countries, especially the Gulf states, have also been targets of Iranian attacks since the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran in late February.
Although Iran fired missiles at Jordan shortly after those strikes, there has since been a lull in direct attacks on the kingdom. This pause has allowed Jordan to focus on intercepting Iranian missiles aimed at Israel, which it frames as a defense of its own airspace.
“Iran has declared that it will retaliate against any regional state that hosts U.S. military assets or bases, and Jordan is certainly on that list,” said Erwin van Veen, senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague, speaking to DW. “King Abdullah II’s room for maneuver is narrow, given Jordan’s precarious reliance on U.S. military and economic support.”
On Sunday, Jordan took its first diplomatic step by summoning Iran’s top envoy in Amman and demanding an immediate halt to what the foreign ministry described as “unjustified and blatant Iranian attacks.”
Jordan’s political and economic tightrope walk
The United States remains Jordan’s largest single foreign backer. Under a seven‑year memorandum of understanding signed in 2022, Washington pledged $1.45 billion (≈€1.27 billion) per year in economic and military aid. In 2025 Congress raised that figure to $1.65 billion, roughly three times the level of a decade earlier.
A Defense Cooperation Agreement signed in January 2021 formalizes U.S. access to Jordanian military facilities. Recent reports indicate that about 4,000 U.S. troops are currently stationed in the country, a higher number than in previous years.
In March, however, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi insisted that no foreign military bases operate on Jordanian soil. Kelly Petillo, program manager for Middle East and North Africa at the European Council on Foreign Relations, noted that downplaying the U.S. presence may reflect domestic anti‑American sentiment.
“Even as Jordan strives to stay neutral, its alliance with the United States continues to shape its fragile security landscape and fuels public discontent,” Petillo told DW.
She added that Jordan, like its Gulf neighbours, may be reassessing whether the U.S. partnership enhances stability or actually undermines it.
A 2026 Arab Barometer survey, a nonpartisan public‑opinion research network, found that only 12 % of Jordanians view former President Donald Trump’s foreign policy favorably.
Jordan-Israel ties
“Another risk for Amman is that Iran’s attacks could push Jordan into the same camp as Israel,” warned Petillo. “That perception could fuel further public discontent and even protests, reminiscent of the demonstrations during the Gaza war when calls arose to scrap the 1994 Israel‑Jordan peace treaty.”
Relations between Israel and Jordan have deteriorated over the past three years. In November 2023 the two countries recalled their ambassadors after Jordan condemned Israel’s actions in the early days of its Gaza war, which followed the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The United States, the European Union and others designate Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Jordan has long championed a two‑state solution that would give Palestinians an independent state alongside Israel.
The Palestinian issue resonates deeply with Jordanians; more than half of the population, including Queen Rania, traces its heritage to Palestine. Approximately 2.4 million Palestinian refugees reside in Jordan, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Nevertheless, Jordan has repeatedly refused to absorb additional Palestinian displaced persons, citing the high costs of hosting refugees whose return remains uncertain.
“Jordan is grappling with a sharp decline in USAID funding and the U.S. withdrawal of support for UNRWA,” Petillo remarked.
These challenges come as the country continues to wrestle with high public debt and unemployment.
Public anger toward Israel has intensified recently due to the rapid expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a trend documented by the United Nations and human‑rights groups since 2023. Escalating settler violence has worsened conditions for Palestinians living there.
According to Save the Children, more than 1,000 Palestinian children were displaced by a spike in settler violence during the first half of 2026—half the total number uprooted by such violence over the preceding three years.
“As stated in the current Israeli coalition’s 2022 agreement, the government ultimately aims to annex the West Bank,” said Erwin van Veen.
“Jordan finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place, with little latitude to maneuver vis‑à‑vis Israel, Iran, or the United States,” he added.
The West Bank, a landlocked territory of roughly 5,655 square kilometers (2,183 square miles), sits between Israel and Jordan. Israel seized control of it from Jordan during the 1967 Six‑Day War. The United Nations Security Council has held that Israel’s construction of settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967—including East Jerusalem—lacks legal legitimacy.
Children injured in Gaza arrive in Jordan for treatment
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Edited by: Anne Thomas, Carla Bleiker
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