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Jordan was attacked by Iranian-made drones, king says

July 26, 2021 at 12:50 pm

King of Jordan Abdullah II in Amman, Jordan on 8 June 2021 [JORDANIAN ROYAL COUNCIL/Anadolu Agency]

Jordan’s King Abdullah II said yesterday that his country was attacked by Iranian-made drones and missiles last year.

“Unfortunately, Jordan was attacked by drones that have come out, that are Iranian signature that we have had to deal with in the past year or so and escalated,” King Abdullah said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

In the interview, the monarch noted a number of concerns related to Iran, including its nuclear programme, ballistic missile development, cyberattacks, and skirmishes along Jordan’s borders.

“Iran’s ballistic technology has improved dramatically. 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” the king said.

“What misses Israel sometimes lands in Jordan… 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 Daesh.”

King Abdullah is currently in the US on a two-week visit where he met with American President Joe Biden last week, making him the first Middle Eastern leader to visit the White House since the president was sworn in at the start of the year.

For nearly two decades, the Jordanian-Iranian relations have witnessed a major rupture after Jordan supported Iraq in its war against Iran in the 1980s.

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