AMMAN: Jordanian security forces said they uncovered and detonated explosives hidden in a commercial warehouse in an industrial area southeast of the capital Amman on Monday that security sources say were part of an Iran-linked plot to destabilize a key US ally.
Witnesses earlier said security forces had sealed the Abu Alanda area in a wide scale security operation two days after authorities announced they had detonated explosives uncovered in another location in the capital. The authorities said the explosives found on Monday were hidden by the same group of suspects who stored the explosives uncovered on Saturday in a crowded residential area close to a military airport used by US army planes. The authorities, who have not disclosed who was behind the storing of munitions or whether arrests have been made, say they will reveal details once the investigations are completed.
Over the past year, Jordan has said it has foiled many attempts to smuggle weapons by infiltrators linked to pro-Iranian militias in Syria, who it says have crossed its borders with rocket launchers and explosives, adding that some of the weapons managed to get through undetected.
Iran has denied being behind such attempts.
Security sources say some of the arms are bound for the neighboring Israeli-occupied West Bank, adding that they have arrested several Jordanians linked to Palestinian militants.
Security officials said the incidents were terror-related based on the quantities of explosives found. They said it is linked to Iran’s clandestine efforts to recruit agents to undertake sabotage acts within the kingdom to destabilize a key ally of Washington in the region.
Jordan has over 3,500 American troops stationed in several bases and, since the war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza erupted in October, it has been increasingly targeted by Iranian-backed groups operating in neighboring Syria and Iraq.
Jordan police say they detonated explosives hidden in a warehouse in capital
https://arab.news/v9pu4
Jordan police say they detonated explosives hidden in a warehouse in capital
- Security officials said the incidents were terror-related based on the quantities of explosives found
Iran says can fight intense war for months
- Iran’s security chief accuses Trump administration of seeking to replicate a scenario similar to Venezuela
- Analysts warn there is still no clear path to ending a conflict that could last a month or longer
TEHRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that the country’s forces could fight an intense war for six months against the United States and Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press on with the war against Iran “with all our force,” with a plan to eradicate the country’s leadership after joint US-Israeli raids killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week, sparking the regional conflict.
Despite the threat, the Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that the Islamic republic’s forces could wage an “intense war” for six months at the current speed of fighting.
Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said Iran had so far used “first and second generation” missiles, but will use “advanced and less-used long-range missiles” in the coming days.
‘Trapped’
The widening reach of the war and Iran’s ability to inflict damage and harm were underscored by US President Donald Trump attending the return of six American service members killed in a drone strike on a US base in Kuwait last Sunday.
Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani accused the Trump administration of seeking to replicate a scenario similar to Venezuela where it ousted leader Nicolas Maduro.
“Their perception was that it would be like Venezuela — they would strike, take control and it would be over — but now they are trapped,” he said in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on state TV on Saturday.
Iran’s hardline judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei also warned Middle East neighbors which are “openly and covertly at the disposal of the enemy” that “the heavy attacks on these targets will continue.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday that Tehran “will be forced to respond” if a neighboring country were to be used as a launchpad for any attack or invasion attempt.
Tehran had vowed to go after US assets in the region, and Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait on Sunday all reported new attacks.
No clear way out
Analysts warn there is still no clear path to ending a conflict that US and Israeli officials say could last a month or longer.
Trump has suggested Iran’s economy could be rebuilt if a leader “acceptable” to Washington replaces the late supreme leader, which Tehran has rejected.
China and Russia have largely stayed on the sidelines despite close ties with Tehran.
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said on Sunday that the war in the Middle East should “never have happened.”
“This is a war that should never have happened,” he told a press conference in Beijing, adding that “a strong fist does not mean strong reason. The world cannot return to the law of the jungle.”
