The US forces have come under attack more than 150 times by Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria, causing at least 70 casualties before Sunday’s attack. The American warships have also been fired at by Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen who are regularly attacking commercial ships passing through Red Sea waters off Yemen’s coast.
While the United States has thus far maintained an official line that Washington is not at war in the region, it has been retaliating against the Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria and carrying out strikes against Yemen’s Houthi military capabilities.
However, Iran’s mission to the United Nations on Monday said that Tehran was not involved in an attack that killed three U.S. service members in northeastern Jordan, near the Syrian border.
Here’s a 10-point guide on Iran drone attack
1) Three US service members were killed and dozens may be wounded after an unmanned aerial drone attack on US forces stationed in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border, President Joe Biden and US officials said on Sunday.
2) At least 34 personnel were injured in the attack, but that number is expected to change as more people seek care, according to a statement from US Central Command. Eight personnel were evacuated from Jordan for higher-level care, but are in stable condition.
3) Biden blamed Iran-backed groups for the attack, the first deadly strike against US forces since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October and sent shock waves throughout the Middle East.
4) In an official statement, Biden said, “While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.”
5) Several prominent US politicians including Senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham called for hitting Iran. “Hit Iran now. Hit them hard,” Graham wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
6) Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, “We must respond to these repeated attacks by Iran and its proxies by striking directly against Iranian targets and its leadership.”
7) Senator Jack Reed, the committee’s Democratic chairman, said he’s “confident the Biden Administration will respond in a deliberate and proportional manner.”
8) “The only answer to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran’s terrorist forces … Anything less will confirm Joe Biden as a coward,” said Republican Senator Tom Cotton in a statement.
9) The attack is a major escalation of the already tense situation in the Middle East, where war broke out in Gaza after the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 killing 1,200. Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed over 26,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry.
10) It is the first time American military personnel have been killed by hostile fire in the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, and the incident will further raise tensions in the region and fuel fears of a broader conflict directly involving Iran.
