Jordan will not be a battlefield for Iran or Israel, foreign minister warns

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that his country will not be a battlefield for Iran or Israel. He said this in an interview given to Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV on Saturday.

Safadi issued such a warning amid fears of Iran's retaliatory attacks on Israel following the killing of senior members of the Palestinian armed group Hamas and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Jordan's foreign minister said, 'We will not be Iran or Israel's battlefield. We have told the Iranians and Israelis that we will not allow anyone to violate our airspace and jeopardize our security. We will repel anything that passes through our airspace that we think poses a threat to us or our citizens.'

Jordan is located between Iran and Israel. After Iran launched its first retaliatory drone and missile strikes against Israel last April, Jordan said it had intercepted some of the objects flying over its airspace.

Iran carried out the attack in retaliation for a suspected Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy compound in Syria. After the attack, officials in Jordan, Iraq and Turkey said Iran had given them some advance warning before taking action.

Ismail Haniya, the political leader of the Palestinian independence armed organization Hamas, was killed on July 31. Iran and Hamas blamed Israel for Haniya's murder. Iran has repeatedly threatened to 'punish' Israel.

In such a situation, it is feared that the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip may spread widely in the Middle East. However, Israel has not claimed responsibility for the killings.

Tensions also rose after an Israeli strike killed Fouad Shokar, a top military commander of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. He was killed hours before Ismail Haniya was killed in southern Beirut.