Iranʼs leaders felt they had crossed a line when militants they supported killed three American soldiers in an attack on a US base in Jordan. Therefore, Tehran is sending more conciliatory signals to the US to avoid direct war, as writes The New York Times with reference to Iranian officials.
This week, Iranʼs Supreme National Security Council held an emergency meeting because it is "concerned about the US response to the killing by militants of three American soldiers at a base in Jordan."
The Iranian president, the foreign minister, the chief of the Armed Forces and two aides to the countryʼs supreme leader also discussed how to act in the event of a "US response."
Iranʼs leader Ali Khamenei has ordered the government to avoid direct war with the United States and to distance Iran from the actions of militants who killed Americans in Jordan. At the same time, Khamenei called to prepare to retaliate if the US attacks Iran.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Hossein Salami said at a conference in Tehran that "these days he hears a lot of unnecessary threats from the US and is ready to respond in case of a strike."
However, Khamenei has told close associates that he opposes a war with the United States, because "preserving the power of the Islamic regime is the highest priority," and the war will distract the world from the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
War could also have disastrous domestic consequences for ordinary people, and Iran is already suffering from international sanctions, unemployment and corruption.
- On January 28, in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border, three American servicemen were killed and more than 40 were injured in a drone attack. Since the beginning of the war between Hamas and Israel in October 2023, this is the first time that US service members have been killed by enemy fire in the Middle East.
- The USA said that Iran was behind the attack on the base. Previously, responsibility for the attack was placed on the Kataib Hezbollah group, which is one of the main allies of the Iranian militia and is based in Iraq with forces in Syria. This information is still being studied. Iran denies any connection with the drone strike.