Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps thanked the “Honorable people and mujahid soldiers (those who struggle for jihad) of Jordan,” claiming it was provided with intelligence that supported recent attacks on the US military, the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency reported on Monday morning.
“Honorable people and mujahid soldiers of Jordan, with thanks for your sincere cooperation and precise information that enabled the accurate targeting of Islamic fighters and the destruction of 20 warehouses housing the positions of the child-killing American army forces in the Al-Azraq region and the killing of dozens of American terrorist forces,” the IRGC released in a statement, alleging to have received “intelligence” on the US’s C17 transport aircraft and P8 command-and-control aircraft.
The IRGC claimed on Monday to have damaged the crafts in attacks on Jordan’s Aqaba Airport, which notably came after Amman denied having evacuated the airport and seaport.
The IRGC’S claim came after a July 15 message pushed by the Revolutionary Guards to the Muslim civilians of Jordan and Kuwait. “We expect you not to miss any opportunity to destroy the aggressive American institutions and to liberate the Islamic lands from the bases of the American occupiers,” the IRGC published.
Though the IRGC bragged that the strikes were facilitated by information provided by Jordanian civilians, seemingly an attempt at indicating support for Tehran in the current war, Professor Ronen Yitzhak, an expert on Jordan from the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that the Islamic Republic has no real support base in Jordan.
Iran long aimed to destabilize Jordan, overthrow authorities
Iran has long aimed to overthrow the Jordanian authorities and destabilize the country, he noted. Its militias have used Jordan to smuggle weapons and arms, and carry out infiltration operations to support Palestinian terrorist groups.
Despite its efforts, Yitzhak stressed that Iran “finds it difficult to operate effectively in Jordan” for several reasons. Firstly, Jordan lacks a sizeable Shi’ite population, making up less than 2% of the population, according to the Alibaba International Center.
“Shi’ism is not legitimized and therefore is not recognized in the country. Therefore, Iran has no support,” Yitzhak commented.
Secondly, Yitzhak noted that public opinion surveys in Jordan have shown consistent hostility toward Iran.
Overwhelming majority of Jordanians see Iran as a competitor or enemy
The Amman-based research organization the Politics and Society Institute found in April, based on a review of 363,300 public online posts about the war, that while the majority are against the current war, they have not expressed support for Iran.
A June study by the Fikra Forum, an initiative of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, found “the overwhelming majority” of Jordanians perceived Iran as either a competitor (45%) or an enemy (42%).
Finally, Yitzhak stressed that “Jordanian intelligence is considered the best Arab intelligence in the Middle East” and, given that Amman maintains intelligence ties with Western intelligence agencies including the Mossad, “it succeeds in thwarting terrorist threats or organizations of hostile elements in the country,” including espionage attempts.
