The Media Line: Iran’s War Reaches Jordan as Missiles and Debris Hit Population Centers 

Iran’s War Reaches Jordan as Missiles and Debris Hit Population Centers 

Missile interceptions and falling debris are striking cities across Jordan, forcing the kingdom deeper into a conflict it sought to avoid 

By Ahmad Al Kwaider and Waseem Abu Mahadi/The Media Line 

King Abdullah was performing Eid prayers in Aqaba on Friday morning when a missile fragment fell in the Wadi Saqra area of central Amman. Security and emergency teams moved quickly to secure the area and inspect the debris. Officials urged residents to stay away from the site and avoid handling any suspicious objects. The fragment is believed to be interception debris linked to ongoing Iranian missile activity in the region. 

On Eid morning, Iran renewed ballistic missile fire toward central Israel and Jerusalem, and Jordan was again pulled into the arc of the war. What began as a regional confrontation Jordan said it wanted no part of has become a direct security test for the kingdom, with missiles, drones, falling debris, and pressure on its alliances all arriving at once. Iran’s missiles were aimed at Israel, not Jordan. The distinction between being a target and being caught in the crossfire was real once. It is not anymore.  

Iran fired 240 missiles and drones at Jordan in three weeks of war, the Jordanian military said Saturday. The Royal Jordanian Air Force shot down 222. Eighteen got through. 

On the ground, civil defense teams logged 414 debris incidents across the kingdom, the Public Security Directorate said. Missile fragments landed on a street in Irbid, a city of 800,000 in the north. An intercept was reported above Aqaba, Jordan’s only port, across the water from the Israeli city of Eilat. Twenty-four people were injured. All have recovered. 

The war’s spillover is no longer theoretical for Jordan. It is hitting population centers, testing the kingdom’s defenses, exposing the limits of its effort to remain outside the conflict, and deepening a domestic debate over how closely Amman can align with Western partners while much of the public remains focused on Gaza. 

On Monday, a child was wounded after rocket shrapnel struck his family’s home in the Beit Ras area west of Irbid. Earlier, on March 3, air defenses intercepted nine separate threats in a single day—ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones—neutralizing all nine. 

One of the most consequential strikes hit a US radar system at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Azraq. The radar, built by Raytheon and worth nearly half a billion dollars, detects incoming ballistic missiles and guides interceptors toward them. A US official confirmed the loss to Bloomberg. CNN satellite imagery showed two craters near the site, and all five trailer components were destroyed or seriously damaged around March 1 or 2. 

That base had hosted more than 50 fighter jets since at least mid-February. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Kyiv sent drone specialists and equipment to protect American bases in Jordan. The United States has since moved to replace the damaged radar system, according to US officials. 

Jordanian analyst Bassam Badareen noted that Amman insists it is not a party to the conflict. “Jordan refuses to be a battlefield or a corridor for conflicts,” he wrote. Security analyst Amer Sabaileh sees it differently. The military picture already understates the actual exposure, he said—and the missiles already counted are not the ceiling. 

“There are several risks Jordan could face, beyond direct or indirect targeting by missiles or drones if Iran decides to expand the level of chaos in the region,” Sabaileh told The Media Line. “Some of these missiles could have consequences that cannot be fully controlled, and they could strike sensitive areas inside Jordan.” 

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi condemned the strikes on the night the war began. Iran had attacked Jordan without justification, he said, at the very moment it knew what the kingdom had done to shield it: refusing to allow Jordanian territory or airspace to be used against Iran and pressing for a peaceful resolution. He also condemned simultaneous Iranian strikes on the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait. Jordan signed onto a joint statement with the United States and those same Gulf governments condemning Iran’s attacks as violations of sovereign territory that endangered civilian populations. 

Jordan’s armed forces spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mustafa al-Hayyari, rejected suggestions that Iranian projectiles were merely transiting Jordanian airspace on their way to Israel. The missiles and drones targeted Jordanian sites, he said, “vital installations inside Jordanian territory.” 

Amman had notified all parties before the war that it would not serve as a battlefield. The strikes came anyway. Jordan has since activated defense cooperation agreements with partner countries for additional air cover, al-Hayyari said at a joint press briefing in Amman, declining to identify them. Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer later confirmed that UK aircraft based in Cyprus had been deployed to help defend Jordanian airspace. 

On March 19, the United States approved a $70.5 million package to sustain Jordan’s existing fleet of F-16 and F-5 fighter jets and C-130 transport aircraft. The package covers spare parts, maintenance, logistics, and munitions support intended to keep the Jordanian air force operational under current conditions. 

Yet the official line is under strain at home. Pro-government dailies, including Al-Rai and Addustour, have not simply defended Amman’s position. They have criticized both Israel and Iran, framing each as pushing extreme religious agendas that threaten the region’s stability. 

Jordan borders Israel, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia while maintaining close security ties with the United States and a peace treaty with Israel. It has long tried to balance those relationships while insisting its territory would not be used as a battlefield. This time, that balancing act failed to keep the war out. Iran struck Jordanian territory directly with 240 projectiles in the first three weeks of the conflict. 

Even before the first missile crossed the border, Jordanian political opinion was already under strain. On Feb. 20, eight days before the war began, Washington’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, told Tucker Carlson it would be “fine” if Israel seized territory between the Nile and the Euphrates—land that includes Jordan. The administration of President Donald Trump said the remarks had been taken out of context. Jordan’s parliament did not accept that answer. 

Parliament Speaker Mazen Al-Qadi called the statements “a blatant provocation and a serious breach of state sovereignty” that violated international law and the UN Charter. MPs urged the government to summon the US ambassador in Amman to demand clarification. One lawmaker called for the permanent removal of the term “Israel” from official Jordanian discourse in favor of “the usurping entity.” The chamber voted unanimously to strike the word from the minutes of that session. 

A week later, Iran struck the American radar installation that Jordan’s government was hosting on its soil. That contrast—parliamentary rhetoric on one side, strategic dependence on the other—is not lost on Jordanians. 

Now the war is in its fourth week, and the pressure on Jordan is no longer only military. On March 17, Israel launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. The Strait of Hormuz has effectively shut to commercial traffic. Oil prices are up more than 40% since the war began, and Jordan imports nearly all of its energy. 

Nor has the fighting with Iran displaced Gaza in Jordanian public consciousness. Gaza’s ceasefire is unraveling. Israel has closed all crossings and blocked aid, with negotiations on the next phase suspended. For many Jordanians, the new war has not replaced the Palestinian issue. It has been added on top of it. 

That distinction matters. Jordanian opinion is neither the monolith the official statements suggest nor the passive civilian endurance that outside reporting often projects onto it. 

Political scientist Hassan Barari said the pressures are reshaping public mood in ways the government cannot fully control. “The escalation between Israel and Iran could affect public sentiment in Jordan in several ways,” he told The Media Line. “It may increase public tension and anxiety because of fears that the war could expand across the region and bring serious security and economic consequences.” 

Still, Barari draws a sharp line between anxiety and alignment. “The escalation could strengthen public mobilization and expressions of solidarity against what many see as aggression toward Iran, especially as the war in Gaza continues,” he said. “Jordan finds itself in a sensitive position between its regional and international commitments and a public mood that strongly sympathizes with the Palestinian cause.” 

That mood is not uniformly pro-Iran. It is anti-war, hostile to Israel’s military campaign, and deeply suspicious of being conscripted into someone else’s conflict. 

“Many Jordanians believe the war between Israel and Iran is part of a broader geopolitical struggle involving the United States and other powers,” Mohammed Abu Sharife, a writer and political researcher specializing in Israeli affairs, told The Media Line. “But they insist Jordan should not become a battlefield for those rivalries.” 

Abu Sharife said public perceptions remain shaped by Gaza, not by sympathy for the Iranian government. “For many people here, Iran is not seen as the main threat. The conflict with Israel and what is happening in Gaza remains the issue that shapes how people see the region.” 

Meanwhile, those tensions are playing out online. Former Jordanian Information Minister Samih Al-Maaytah called for legal action against individuals publicly praising Iranian missile attacks, warning that celebrating projectiles passing through Jordanian airspace toward Israel crosses a legal line. Jordan’s Cybercrime Unit said it had detected social media accounts spreading rumors, questioning the state’s positions, or posting content that could inflame tensions. The unit warned that it is monitoring online platforms and could pursue legal measures against anyone publishing material that threatens national security or incites unrest. The crackdown itself signals the government’s awareness that the official line is not holding at the popular level. 

On the street, the calculus is more immediate. “We live in the middle of this region,” said Mohammad Al-Hussein, a 30-year-old day laborer from Mafraq. “When missiles start flying between Israel and Iran, people here feel that Jordan could become the next place affected. I don’t follow politics closely, but I know one thing: If this war expands, families like mine will pay the price first.” 

The war broke out on the 10th day of Ramadan. Eid al-Fitr began on Friday, March 20. Jordanians who expected to spend the final nights of the holy month at iftar tables with family, in the lit-up downtown markets of Amman, or traveling to visit relatives across the country are instead calculating whether the sirens will sound before or after the children go to sleep. 

Prime Minister Jafar Hassan announced that the Eid holiday would run from March 20 to March 23. The Amman Chamber of Commerce said clothing and shoe prices remained stable. The government is trying to project normalcy into a holiday that does not feel normal. Eid began with the same pattern already in place—missiles at night, interceptions overhead, debris in the morning. What comes next remains unclear in Amman. 

The government briefly closed the country’s airspace at the start of the fighting, then reopened it after a security review. Schools stayed open, but the Cabinet considered shifting to remote learning based on security conditions. 

Another area drawing attention is Central Badia on the civil defense debris map. The sparsely populated desert territory sits along the Iraqi border and is widely seen as a vulnerable corridor into Jordan. Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have threatened to expand attacks to regional countries hosting US troops, specifically naming Jordan. 

“This could move to other levels, not just chaos caused by military strikes, but also through the activation of sleeper cells operating inside the country,” Sabaileh said. “There is also the possibility of militias being pushed toward Jordan’s borders or attempts to target vital areas inside the country. All of these scenarios are now possible.” 

King Abdullah has carried the same pressures into his diplomacy. In calls with regional leaders, he raised the need to protect worshippers’ access to Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, linking the war, Gaza, and the holy month in a single message directed at the Arab and Islamic world. Border crossings between Jordan and Israel have remained open since the war began, a sign that Amman has not used the conflict as cover to suspend the infrastructure of its peace treaty. 

“Jordan does not want any of this,” Sabaileh said. “But the country has little choice but to strengthen its ability to intercept missiles and Iranian drones, maintain a high level of readiness along its borders, and increase internal awareness among citizens. What they must do now is take all necessary defensive measures and be prepared to respond if attacks occur.”