The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said it launched a ballistic missile strike on US-run Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan’s Azraq, destroying three American F-35 fighter jets and heavily damaging three others in retaliation for a US airstrike that killed three members of a family on Iran’s Qeshm Island.
The IRGC’s public relations office issued the statement on Thursday, addressing the “honorable and discerning people of Jordan.”
It thanked Jordanians for their “sincere support and cooperation,” particularly the “clear positions” taken by some Jordanian elites, saying their stance had increased pressure on the United States.
The statement noted that the United States launched an airstrike before dawn using “occupied bases” in Jordan after being unable to confront Iran in direct war.
The IRGC said US forces targeted two residential homes in the Chah Tangu neighborhood of Qeshm Island with heavy bombs, killing a father, a mother and one of their children while wounding two other children. Two other children survived the attack and were taken to hospital for treatment.
“In response to this crime and to help you liberate the Islamic land of Jordan from the scourge of the American occupiers,” the IRGC said, “the Aerospace Force fighters attacked the deployment ramp and maintenance hangar of the enemy’s American F-35 fighter jets at Al-Azraq Air Base this morning with several ballistic missiles.”
The statement said that the strike “completely destroyed three F-35 aircraft and inflicted heavy damage on three others.”
It also said several US officers as well as technical and maintenance personnel were killed in the attack.
“The region is no place for a child-killing army that so brutally massacres innocent families in their sleep at midnight,” the statement said.
“Our struggle, alongside yours, will continue until the last American occupier is expelled from Islamic lands,” it added.
The retaliation comes as the US has been targeting southern Iranian provinces since earlier in July after violating the terms of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.
Tehran has responded with repeated missile and drone attacks targeting US-operated military facilities across the region under Operation Nasr 2 and Operation Sa’eqeh (Lightning).
