ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday fired back at his Jordanian counterpart Ayman al-Safadi after the latter said Tehran's attacks on regional countries were premeditated, having begun just "two hours into" the Iran war in late February.
"How long does the Jordanian foreign minister think Iran should wait before responding to an aggressor that respects neither Arab sovereignty nor Iran's?" Araghchi wrote on X.
He further questioned whether Safadi was "truly unaware that Arab airspace, territory, and waters were used in the initial American strikes that killed innocent Iranians."
The sharp exchange came after Safadi, speaking at a press conference in Vienna on Thursday, said, "We in Jordan have come under Iranian attacks and we condemn the attacks on Jordan and on other countries in the region."
"We are not a party in this war," the senior Jordanian diplomat noted, adding that "Iran started attacking Jordan and other countries in the region - particularly in the Arab Gulf - two hours after the war started," describing it as "an implementation of a premeditated policy rather than a reaction."
Safadi's remarks came against the backdrop of renewed Iranian strikes.
Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday said it launched missile attacks on Jordan's Muwaffaq al-Salti Air Base in al-Azraq and the King Hussein Air Base, claiming to have "destroyed technical and repair infrastructure, as well as fighter deployment sites."
On Wednesday, the IRGC claimed "combined missile and drone attacks" on Camp Titin in Aqaba and the Prince Hassan Air Base, saying it targeted a US Marine facility and drone hangars at the two sites.
A joint statement by Iran's Armed Forces General Staff and the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which oversees Iran's wartime operations, framed the strikes as part of the latest escalation between Tehran and Washington that flared on Sunday and stretched through Thursday.
"While Tehran respects the sovereignty of neighboring states, it will never tolerate aggression… any site used to launch US attacks will be struck with overwhelming force," the statement warned.
Safadi pushed back, saying the US is a "major ally" of Jordan and that American troops there operate under a "joint defense cooperation agreement" specifying the "roles and duties" of those forces that largely pertain to training and advisory.
He explicitly rejected the Iranian argument, stating, "There are no American independent bases in Jordan. There are American troops embedded in Jordanian bases, as part of a longstanding cooperation that goes back to the days of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS."
"Iran has been attacking us and many other countries in the region long before this war started - not directly by sending missiles, but by meddling in internal affairs," Safadi added.
