US looks to respond to drone strike in Jordan without starting war with Iran

Two attacks on vulnerable outpost in the past six months were thwarted by air defences

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The Pentagon is considering how best to respond to a Tehran-linked drone attack that killed three US troops at a small military base in Jordan as the risk of a broader clash with Iran grows by the hour.

Publicly, Iran and the US have declared their intention to avoid direct conflict, but US President Joe Biden’s administration is under mounting political pressure to increase attacks on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria, and some Republican hawks are calling for direct strikes on Iran.

“We are not looking for a war with Iran … we will not seek to escalate,” said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby after Sunday’s Iran-backed attack on Tower 22, an isolated US outpost that hosts about 350 troops in the Iraq-Syria-Jordan border area.

“But we will absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves to continue that mission and to respond appropriately to these attacks.”

At least 34 US service members were wounded, a US defence official told media, and the number was expected to rise further as troops developed symptoms consistent with traumatic brain injuries.

Eight were medically evacuated for further evaluation but all of them are in a stable condition.

The tower has been a target twice in the past six months but the attacks were thwarted by air-defence systems, the official added.

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said many of those wounded had been in bed when the drone struck their barracks in the early morning attack.

The Pentagon is investigating how the attack drone managed to evade defences. The Wall Street Journal reported there appeared to have been a mix-up over the drone’s identity, with operators confusing it with a returning US aircraft.

Tehran, through its UN mission, said it was not involved in the drone attack in north-eastern Jordan. An official statement said Iran had “nothing to do with it” but did not deny US accusations that militia allied with Tehran were behind it.

Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani condemned the attack and said it breached Jordanian sovereignty.

“An attack that happened in Jordan is infringing Jordan’s sovereignty, also undermining the force of the coalition against ISIS [and] is not something that can be accepted,” he said at an event in Washington.

Meanwhile, in London, Rishi Sunak called for calm.

“We are concerned and would urge Iran to continue to de-escalate tensions in the region,” the UK Prime Minister said.

The drone attack has intensified tension linked to the war between Israel and Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

Since October, the Pentagon has blamed Iran-backed militias for more than 165 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria.

Further complicating the fraught picture, Tehran-supported Houthi rebels in Yemen have unleashed dozens of attacks on merchant and military vessels in the Red Sea.