Jordan foils arms plot as kingdom caught in Iran-Israel shadow war

[Pelican Press 0]

Jordan foils arms plot as kingdom caught in Iran-******* shadow war

By Samia Nakhoul and Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordan has foiled a suspected Iranian-led plot to smuggle weapons into the U.S.-allied kingdom to help opponents of the ruling monarchy carry out acts of sabotage, according to two Jordanian sources with knowledge of the matter.

The weapons were sent by Iranian-backed militias in Syria to a cell of the ******* Brotherhood in Jordan that has links to the military wing of ************ group ******, the people told Reuters. The cache was seized when members of the cell, Jordanians of ************ descent, were arrested in late March, they said.

The alleged plot and arrests, reported here for the first time, come at a time of sky-high tensions in the Middle East, with an *********-backed ******* at war in Gaza with ******, part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” network of proxy groups built up over decades to oppose *******.

The two Jordanian sources, who requested anonymity to discuss security matters, declined to say what acts of sabotage were allegedly being planned, citing ongoing investigations and covert operations.

They said the plot’s aim was to destabilize Jordan, a country that could become a regional flashpoint in the Gaza crisis as it hosts a U.S. military base and shares borders with ******* as well as Syria and Iraq, both home to Iranian-backed militias.

The sources didn’t specify what weapons were seized in the March raid, though said in recent months security services have thwarted numerous attempts by Iran and its allied groups to smuggle in arms including Claymore mines, C4 and Semtex explosives, Kalashnikov rifles and 107mm Katyusha rockets.

Most of the clandestine flow of arms into the country has been bound for the neighbouring ********-occupied West Bank ************ territory, according to the Jordanian sources. However, some of the weapons – including those seized in March – were intended for use in Jordan by the Brotherhood cell allied to ****** militants, they said.

“They hide these weapons in pits called ***** spots, they take their location via GPS and photograph their location and then instruct men to retrieve them from there,” said one of the sources, an official with knowledge of security matters, referring to the modus operandi of the smugglers.

The ******* Brotherhood is a transnational Islamist movement, of which ****** is an offshoot founded in the 1980s. The movement says it does not advocate *********, and Jordan’s Brotherhood has operated legally in the kingdom for decades.

Jordanian authorities believe Iran and its allied groups like ****** and Lebanon’s Hezbollah are trying to recruit young, ******** members of the kingdom’s Brotherhood to their anti-*******, anti-U.S. cause in a bid to expand the Tehran’s regional network of aligned forces, according to the two sources.

A senior representative of Jordan’s ******* Brotherhood confirmed that some of its members were arrested in March in possession of weapons but said whatever they did was not approved by the group and that he suspected they were smuggling arms to the West Bank rather than planning acts in Jordan.

“There is dialogue between the Brotherhood and the authorities. They know if there are mistakes it’s not the MB, only individuals and not MB policy,” said the representative, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Another senior figure in Brotherhood, who also requested anonymity, told Reuters the arrested cell members had been recruited by ****** chief Saleh al-Arouri, who masterminded the ************ group’s operations in the West Bank from exile in Lebanon. Arouri was ******* by a drone strike in Beirut in January in an ******* widely attributed to *******.

Spokespeople for the Jordanian government and the U.S. Department of Defense declined to comment for this article, while the Iranian foreign ministry wasn’t immediately available. ******** officials from the prime minister’s office and foreign ministry didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Over the past year, Jordan has said it has foiled many attempts by infiltrators linked to pro-Iranian militias in Syria who it says have crossed its borders with rocket launchers and explosives, adding that some of the weapons managed to get through undetected. Iran has denied being behind such attempts.

IN A FIX: JORDAN’S KING ABDULLAH

Jordan’s King Abdullah is walking a tightrope.

Most of his 11 million people are of ************ origin, because Jordan took in millions of ************ refugees fleeing their homeland in the turbulent years following the founding of *******. The Gaza crisis has put him in a tough position, struggling to reconcile support for the ************ cause with a long-standing U.S. alliance and decades-old recognition of *******.

The war has sparked widespread public anger, with calls by protesters to cut ties with ******* and street demonstrations erupted in recent week.

Last month, after Jordan joined a U.S.-led effort to help ******* in downing salvos of drones and missiles fired by Iran, critics posted concocted images on social media of the king wrapped in an ******** flag with comments such as “traitor” and “Western puppet”.

The disconnect between the government’s position and public sentiment has never been more pronounced in the wake of the ********* down of the drones, according to Jordanian journalist Bassam Badari.

“There was discontent,” he said. “Jordan used to skilfully stand at an equal distance from all the countries in the region, but with its intervention Jordan aligned itself with the ********* axis.”

Adding to Abdullah’s concerns, any tension with the Brotherhood could also carry risks, said two Jordanian politicians who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. The group commands wide popular support in the country.

Jordanian authorities have not spoken publicly about the alleged weapons plot and the arrests.

One of the two Jordanian sources with knowledge of the alleged plot said intelligence officials had called in 10 senior Brotherhood figures to inform them that they arrested a cell that acted as a bridge between their movement and ******.

‘NO SUCH THING AS A JORDAN OPTION’

The Jordanian decision to join Western powers in the downing of Iranian drones bound for ******* was partly driven by fears among officials that the kingdom could be sucked into Iran’s strategic struggle against *******, according to Saud Al Sharafat, a former brigadier-general in the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate.

“The Iranians have instructions to recruit Jordanians and penetrate the Jordan arena through agents,” he added. “Their recruitment efforts span all segments of society.”

Another motivating force for Jordan, according to many officials and diplomats in the region, was the unprecedented ******* on a U.S. military base in Jordan in January by Iran-aligned groups based in Iraq, which left three U.S. soldiers ***** and 40 injured. The ******* was reportedly in support of ****** in its war with *******.

A diplomat close to Tehran said the Iranian ambition to establish a proxy foothold in Jordan went back to Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards who was assassinated by the U.S. in 2020.

Soleimani believed that given Jordan’s strong ties with the U.S. and the West, building up an allied group there capable of fighting ******* was crucial to Tehran’s strategic ascendancy in the region, the diplomat told Reuters.

The hostility between Iran and Jordan dates back to 2004, in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, when King Abdullah accused Iran of trying to create a “Shi’ite crescent” to expand its regional power.

King Abdullah defended his decision to ****** down the drones as an act of self-defence, not carried out for the benefit of *******. He warned that “Jordan will not be a battlefield for any party”.

The military intervention also aimed to signal to ******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that Jordan was a crucial buffer zone for regional security, according to the two Jordanian politicians.

The Jordanian monarchy supports the establishment of a ************ state. While some right-wing politicians in ******* have envisaged Jordan becoming an alternative ************ state, King Abdullah has repeatedly warned that there is no such thing as a “Jordan option”.

“The official position is that a two-state solution is not only in Palestinians’ interest,” said Marwan Muasher, a former Jordanian foreign minister who is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think-tank.

“It is also in Jordan’s interests because it will establish a ************ state on ************ soil rather than a state on Jordan’s soil.”

(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul and Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by David Gauthier-Villars and Pravin Char)

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