Jordan's armed forces said they stopped 13 incoming Iranian weapons—seven missiles plus six unmanned aircraft, with aircraft used to bring down the incoming weapons and no casualties or damage reported from the operation.
A military source at the Jordan Armed Forces' General Command provided the account to the state-run Petra News Agency. The supplied evidence did not independently verify each interception, but it presented no competing Jordanian casualty report.
Iran announced drone operations against United States personnel and facilities in Jordan and Bahrain earlier that day. Iranian state media said the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, also called Al-Azraq, was targeted in eastern Jordan and claimed strikes on hangars, maintenance buildings and barracks. Jordan's statement that the interceptions produced no damage conflicted with the implication of successful Iranian hits, leaving Tehran's account unconfirmed.
Jordan hosts an estimated 4,000 US military personnel at several locations, including Al-Azraq. Despite its close security partnership with Washington, Amman had tried to avoid direct involvement in the widening conflict among the United States, Israel and Iran. Jordan maintained diplomatic ties with Tehran and repeatedly said its territory would not serve as a platform for attacks on neighbouring states.
That position became harder to sustain as weapons crossed Jordanian airspace. The kingdom had intercepted Iranian missiles and drones multiple times after the latest hostilities began on July 8, when Donald Trump, the US president, declared he no longer viewed a June ceasefire framework with Iran as operative. Defensive action protected Jordanian territory but also placed its forces directly within the cycle of regional attack and response.
Iranian forces reported operations elsewhere in the Gulf on Friday. They claimed Arash attack drones had been directed at Isa Air Base in Bahrain, while Bahrain said its military had intercepted Iranian attacks. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also said it directed weapons at Kuwait's Ali Al Salem Air Base. Kuwaiti forces reported confronting hostile drones, though the supplied account could not determine whether the statements described the same incident.
The IRGC later warned civilians across the region to keep away from US bases, signalling the possibility of further operations. US Central Command, meanwhile, said its forces had struck Iranian command centres, drone storage sites, communications systems and coastal military capabilities during another night of attacks.
Jordan's reported interception of 13 weapons caused no immediate losses, but it illustrated the danger facing states that host US forces while seeking to remain outside direct combat. As attacks spread across Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, defensive airspace decisions increasingly carried diplomatic as well as military consequences.
