Jordan has been attacked by Iranian-made drones
Jordan has been attacked by Iranian-made drones and has been hit by Iranian-made missiles that were aimed towards Israel but missed it, hitting Jordan instead, Jordanian King Abdullah II told CNN in an interview on Sunday.
In response to a question concerning whether or not he would prefer to see Iran return to the nuclear deal, Abdullah told CNN that “There are legitimate concerns in our part of the world on a lot of portfolios that the Americans are hopefully going to be able to discuss with the Iranians.”
Abdullah listed off a number of issues related to Iran, including the nuclear program, ballistic missile advancements, cyberattacks and firefights along Jordan’s borders.
“The nuclear program affects Israel as it does the Gulf,” said Abdullah.
“The ballistic technology has improved dramatically,” added the Jordanian monarch. “We’ve seen that, unfortunately, against American bases in Iraq. We’ve seen Saudi being the recipient of missiles out of Yemen. Israel from Syria and Lebanon to an extent, and what misses Israel sometimes lands in Jordan. So we do have these concerns.
“Add to that [the] increased cyberattacks on many of our countries. The firefights on our borders have increased almost to the times when we were at the high end with Da’esh (ISIS). And unfortunately, Jordan has been attacked by drones that have come out that are Iranian signature that we have to deal with,” said Abdullah to CNN, adding that all the issues he’d listed had risen in the past year or so and were escalating.
Abdullah added that he feels that the American and Iranian positions in the Vienna talks are “somewhat far apart.”
The Jordanian king pointed to efforts by the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait to engage with Iran in order to lower tensions.
“Let’s hope that those talks get us to a better position where we can calm the region because we have so many challenges,” added Abdullah to CNN.
During Operation Guardian of the Walls, the IDF shot down an Iranian drone near the border with Jordan in northern Israel. Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time that the drone was believed to have been launched from either Iraq or Syria.
In past alleged Israeli airstrikes on Syria, Syrian air defense missiles have fallen by accident in Jordan while responding to the airstrikes.
During the CNN interview, Abdullah also revealed that he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Defense Minister Benny Gantz. The king added that he met with the “prime minister” as well, seeming to confirm earlier reports by Israeli media that he had met with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, although he did not specify if he was referring to the Israeli or Palestinian prime minister.
Abdullah is on a two-week visit to the US and met with US President Joe Biden last week. Abdullah is the first Middle East leader to visit Biden at the White House. He is to be followed on July 26 by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. US and Israeli officials are working on scheduling a meeting soon between Biden and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
TZVI JOFFRE
source:jpost.com