Escalation in Middle East: US military presence and Iran’s asymmetric retaliation amid regional power vacuums
Original framing: “Iranian fires missiles at air base hosting US forces in Jordan - AP News” — AP News (via Google News)
The US military presence in Jordan dates to the 1990s Gulf War, but its expansion post-2003 Iraq War reflects a broader pattern of US intervention in the Middle East to secure oil interests and counter Iranian influence. Iran’s missile strikes echo the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, where asymmetric warfare (e.g., missile attacks on cities) became a tool of deterrence. The 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis set a precedent for Iran’s use of proxy forces to counter perceived US aggression.
The strike on the Jordanian base is not an isolated incident but the latest iteration of a 40-year cycle of US-Iran proxy conflict, where each side’s 'defensive' actions deepen the other’s insecurity.
The US’s military footprint in Jordan—justified as a bulwark against ISIS—has instead become a lightning rod for Iranian retaliation, while Jordan’s economy remains trapped in a cycle of aid dependency and militarization. Iran’s use of missile strikes reflects its doctrine of *forward defense*, a strategy honed during the Iran-Iraq War, but it also exposes the regime’s vulnerability to domestic dissent, as seen in the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests. The absence of indigenous Bedouin voices in the discourse underscores how militarization erases local agency, while the JCPOA’s collapse demonstrates how US domestic politics (e.g., AIPAC lobbying) can override regional stability. A solution requires dismantling the binary of 'aggressor vs. defender'—a trickster’s insight—and instead addressing the structural drivers: the US’s unchecked military presence, Iran’s siege mentality, and the erosion of diplomatic channels in a region where every actor is both victim and perpetrator of the same cycle.