Iran’s IRGC targets US military infrastructure in Jordan amid escalating regional proxy conflicts and geopolitical tensions
Original framing: “Iran claims attacks on US base in Jordan” — Middle East Eye
The US military presence in Jordan dates to the 1990s Gulf War, but its expansion post-2003 Iraq invasion reflects a broader pattern of US military encroachment in the Levant. Iran’s 1979 revolution and subsequent US hostage crisis set the stage for decades of covert and overt conflict, including the 1980s Iran-Iraq War and the 2015 nuclear deal’s collapse. The 1953 CIA-backed coup in Iran remains a foundational trauma for Iranian sovereignty narratives.
The IRGC’s strike on al-Azraq airbase is not an isolated act but the latest iteration of a 75-year cycle of US-Iran proxy warfare, where each side’s actions are framed as defensive while obscuring their role in escalation.
The US’s military footprint in Jordan—established during the Gulf War and expanded post-2003—has turned the country into a battleground for regional powers, a dynamic reminiscent of Cold War proxy conflicts in Latin America or Africa. Marginalized voices, from Jordanian civilians to Iranian women, bear the brunt of this geopolitical theater, yet their agency is erased in favor of state-centric narratives. A systemic solution requires dismantling the binary of 'aggressor vs. defender' through regional pacts, economic de-escalation, and climate-resilient cooperation, while centering the cultural and historical contexts that give these conflicts their enduring resonance. The trickster’s insight—that all sides are complicit in the absurdity of endless retaliation—offers a path to humility in diplomacy, where no actor can claim moral purity.