An Iranian-backed drone that killed three American soldiers in Jordan on Saturday tricked U.S. forces into thinking it was one of their own, a Pentagon official told Politico.
The suicide drone was tracking an American plane returning to the Tower 22 base near the Syrian border, and U.S. defenses confused the two.
U.S. officials said it was launched from Iraq by a militia backed by Iran, the main backer of the anti-Israel group Hezbollah. At least 34 people were also injured in the strike.
According to a US Defense Department official who spoke to Politico on condition of anonymity, the attackers saw an “opportunity” to track the US aircraft and “exploited” it.
Three American soldiers were killed in a suicide drone attack on a US base in Jordan, US Central Command said on Sunday. Pictured: Marines talk to their fellow soldiers on the ground during military exercises in the Middle Eastern country, which borders Syria and Iraq
The drone strike hit a US outpost in the northeast of the country called Tower 42 near the Syrian border late Saturday evening, leaving at least 34 others injured
Modern military aircraft, naval vessels and ground vehicles are equipped with technologies known as Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) transponders, which identify “friendly” vehicles.
It is unclear whether the system used at the base in Jordan malfunctioned or whether human error was involved.
The defense official also told Politico that just 90 minutes after the attack on Tower 22, Iranian proxies fired a second drone at a U.S. base at al-Tanf Garrison, just across the border in Syria.
According to the outlet, this drone was shot down by a US drone called RTX's Coyote unmanned aerial system.
President Joe Biden announced the deaths of three American soldiers the morning after the attack.
“Today America’s heart is heavy,” he wrote from the White House.
“Last night, three U.S. soldiers were killed and many were injured in an unmanned drone strike on our forces stationed in northeastern Jordan, near the Syrian border.”
Meanwhile, conflict continues to escalate in the war-torn Middle East region, with the war in Gaza still ongoing and Iran currently conducting airstrikes with US ally Pakistan.
The names of those killed were not released. They are the first American soldiers killed in the Middle East since October 7, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel.
“While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know that it was carried out by radical, Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq,” Biden said in his statement.
“Jill and I join the families and friends of our fallen – and Americans across the country – in mourning the loss of these warriors in this heinous and completely unjust attack.”
As of Sunday morning, Iran – the main backer of the anti-Israel group Hezbollah – and its proxies were the main suspects, officials said. Pictured: U.S. Marines monitor Eager Lion multinational military exercises in Quweira, a city in Jordan that is closer to Israel
President Joe Biden said Sunday that the soldiers died “risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans and our allies and partners with whom we work in the fight against terrorism.”
An outspoken enemy of both the US and Israel, Iran is currently training the Hezbollah militia group (here in Baghdad in 2019), which has been trying to join the Palestinian cause for years. The group has not been named as responsible for Saturday's attack
He added that the three fallen soldiers “embodyed the very best of our nation” – they were “unwavering in their courage…unwavering in their duty…” [and] unyielding in their commitment to our country.'
He explained that they were “risking their own security for the security of their fellow Americans and our allies and partners with whom we work in the fight against terrorism.”
“It is a fight we will not give up,” declared the 81-year-old Biden.
While the militants responsible were not named, the statement confirmed that the attack was the work of anti-Western jihadists operating somewhere in the region.
As of Sunday, both countries have a host of Iran-aligned militias, including Hezbollah and several other Shiite militant groups.
Since the Syrian war in 2011, Iran has also supported several Palestinian terrorist groups based in the Gaza Strip, as well as various terrorist groups in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Since the war – which served to intensify Iran's economic, political and religious operations in the country – Iran has openly used its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force to fund these terrorist organizations.
In 2019, the nuclear-capable country recognized its armed forces' involvement in the conflicts in Iraq and Syria, prompting the US to designate the Iranian army as a foreign terrorist organization.
Regional militants and proxy groups are also known to deny Iran conducts such attacks and shield it from responsibility for its destabilizing policies.
The country is also currently engaged in an artillery game with its own neighbor Pakistan, one of NATO's key allies in the Middle East.
The country is also currently engaged in an artillery game with its neighbor Pakistan, one of NATO's most important allies in the Middle East. Pictured: Smoke rose over the Iranian city of Saravan last Thursday
Both countries have been home to a host of Iran-aligned militias since Sunday, including Hezbollah and several other Shiite militant groups, including the Houthis, seen here as Yemenis who recently received military training from the movement at one armed people's parade hold their weapons in their hands and chant slogans. On December 2nd he travels to Israel to the Gaza Strip to fight there
Just last week, the Pakistani air force launched retaliatory strikes on two suspected militant positions in Iran, days after an Iranian airstrike killed two children at home.
The airstrikes in Sistan and Balochistan province killed at least seven people – and heightened pre-existing tensions between the two nations and the region as a whole.
They have also contributed to the death toll in the Middle East since the conflict erupted in Gaza in October reaching well into the thousands.
A few weeks ago, Pakistan recalled its ambassador from Tehran over Iran's attacks on Tuesday in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province. Iran claimed it targeted bases of a militant Sunni separatist group.
The attack was strongly condemned by Pakistan, which denounced the attack as a “flagrant violation” of its airspace and said it killed two children.
If Marhamati's account of the victims is correct, the country has repeated Pakistan's crime of killing minors at least twice.
As the Iranians continue to assess the full extent of the attack, the war rages on more than a thousand miles west in Israel.
Another 1,000 miles southwest, the U.S. carried out four new strikes in Yemen, targeting anti-ship ballistic missiles used by another Iranian-backed rebel group, the Houthis.
Earlier this month, shortly after Iran's attack on Pakistani soil, the group warned that British and American ships in the Red Sea had now become “legitimate targets” given the state of the larger conflict
Another 1,000 miles southwest, the U.S. carried out four new strikes in Yemen, targeting anti-ship ballistic missiles used by the Houthis, another Iran-backed group that opposes U.S. involvement in the region
Two weeks ago, shortly after the Iranian attack on Pakistani soil (seen here), the Iran-backed group warned that British and American ships in the Red Sea had now become “legitimate targets” after jointly attacking one another's military sites group supported by Iran, the Houthis
The series of incidents has raised concerns that the Israeli offensive could trigger a wider conflict and a simultaneous rise in gas prices, which is also one of the most important routes for oil and liquefied natural gas shipments in the Middle East
Since then, the Houthis have sporadically attacked ships in the region, with attacks increasing recently.
In response, the US launched Operation Prosperity Guardian – an international coalition to protect the region, in which many other countries, including Spain and the United Kingdom, took part.
According to reports, 1,200 merchant ships have sailed through the sea since the operation began in December, but none were hit by drone or missile attacks until the first phase of Sunday's attack, when militants attacked the Hangzhou with multiple missiles.
US Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper warned on Friday that despite the task force, the Houthis appeared unwilling to end their “ruthless” attacks after attacking more than 100 ships in the Red Sea since November.
Sunday's attack shows the group's continued determination to support Hamas, which Israel recently pledged to continue trying to eradicate.
The incidents have raised concerns that the Israeli offensive could trigger a wider conflict while increasing gas prices, which is also one of the most important routes for oil and liquefied natural gas shipments in the Middle East.
On Sunday, the official representative of Jordan's Cabinet of Ministers denied that Saturday's attack even took place in the country, saying it instead took place at a known U.S. military base in Tanf, Syria, and not on Jordanian territory.
The US has yet to confirm these claims, but has issued statements citing American intelligence to suggest otherwise.
It has yet to be announced which military branches the soldiers belonged to on Sunday.