{"id":567792,"date":"2026-07-31T00:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T00:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/567792\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T00:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T00:24:16","slug":"iran-influence-in-jordan-grows-as-jordanians-demand-us-military-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/567792\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran influence in Jordan grows as Jordanians demand US military withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Islamic Republic<\/a> is making headway in its ambition to \u201csow discord within Jordan and create governmental chaos in order to expand Iranian influence\u201d in the country, Prof. Ronen Yitzhak told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, following the publication of an open letter signed by hundreds of Jordanian<\/a> political and legal figures demanding the withdrawal of US forces.<\/p>\n

The letter, a rare public challenge to the Jordanian government, was signed by both Palestinian and original Jordanian tribes, which is what makes it particularly \u201cdisturbing,\u201d Yitzhak said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is exactly what Iran intended when it launched missiles at Jordan, as well as at other Gulf states. Its goal was to put pressure on the Jordanian population to demand the removal of the American presence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it is more than that. There is an Iranian intention to deepen the gap between the Jordanian government, which supports the United States, and the Jordanian people, which opposes American policy, as part of the Iranian ambition to sow discord within Jordan and cause governmental chaos in order to increase Iranian influence in Jordan \u2013 this has been Iran\u2019s ambition for over 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter claimed that US military presence \u201cexposes Jordan to security, political, and economic risks that serve no national interest and increases the likelihood of our country being dragged into a regional conflict to which it is not a party.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, a large military transport aircraft widely operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) as well as several allied air forces, lands at Mwaffaq Salti air base on July 25, 2026 in Al-Azraq , Jordan. (credit: Salah Malkawi\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Jordan currently hosts around 4,000 American troops, according to the US Congress. The country also receives substantial US military assistance, with annual aid tripling over the past 15 years.<\/p>\n

Jordanian-US relationship beneficial, but regional escalation inflicts pain<\/p>\n

Total bilateral US assistance to Jordan, administered through the State and Defense Departments<\/a>, amounted to approximately $33.8 billion from 1951 through to the fiscal year 2025, and the US has provided an additional $2.5 billion in security assistance to Jordan through multiple defense appropriations accounts.<\/p>\n

Though Amman\u2019s relationship with the US has been undoubtedly beneficial, the regional escalation has also had a deep impact on Jordan\u2019s economy. The Central Bank of Jordan reported that in the first half of 2026, tourism revenue went down from expatriate Jordanians by 12%, US nationals by 25%, and European nationals by 28%. According to The New York Times, the tourism industry alone makes up 18% of Jordan\u2019s revenues.<\/p>\n

The demand to see US forces withdraw is \u201ca fascistic call,\u201d Yitzhak said, adding that it was unlikely to impact King Abdullah\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbdullah\u2019s strategic political approach, as we knew, was the commander of Jordan\u2019s special forces until his appointment as king in 1999, and he cooperated with the West and recognizes the importance of strategic relations between countries, including the State of Israel<\/a>,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Issues relating to the state of Israel have been another sore point between the Jordanian people and the government, a point that has only become more noticeable with Iran\u2019s escalation in recent years.<\/p>\n

Sufyan al-Tell, a political activist who signed the letter, told the Times that Jordan\u2019s capabilities were being \u201cexploited\u2026one way or another to defend Israel,\u201d reflecting a growing number of Jordanians who have vocalized the belief that the country is making sacrifices for the benefit of a foreign power.<\/p>\n

Yitzhak, though, said that \u201cthe King of Jordan has the sovereignty to make independent decisions according to the constitution, so it does not seem likely that he will change Jordanian policy towards the countries or the West in general.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Islamic Republic is making headway in its ambition to \u201csow discord within Jordan and create governmental chaos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,87,12157,53065,79845,55,2286,66577,19346,11982,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-567792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-iran-missiles","tag-irgc","tag-islamic-regime","tag-islamic-republic","tag-jordan","tag-king-abdullah-of-jordan","tag-missile-attacks","tag-missiles","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}