What is Jordan’s Al-Azraq base and why is Iran targeting it?

EXPLAINERTehran appears to be increasingly targeting Jordanian assets in the latest round of escalation with the US.As the United States and Iran trade strikes on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz this week, Iran has also launched several ballistic missiles towards Jordan’s Azraq-airbase" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="201675" data-entity-type="location">Al-Azraq airbase, which hosts US military assets and personnel, in what it has called retaliatory attacks.The Jordanian Armed Forces said 18 of 20 missiles had been intercepted and destroyed overnight on Tuesday and on Wednesday morning, while two fell in open areas. No casualties have been reported.So, what is at the Azraq-airbase" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="201675" data-entity-type="location">Al-Azraq airbase, and why has Iran targeted it?The Azraq-airbase" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="201675" data-entity-type="location">Al-Azraq airbase perimeter is visible on July 25, 2026, in Al-Azraq, Jordan [Salah Malkawi/Getty Images]What did Iran target in Jordan?Overnight, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched “devastating” missile strikes at US forces stationed at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, also known as Al-Azraq base, near Azraq in Jordan’s Zarqa governorate.Missiles “struck the maintenance, preparation, and deployment sites of F-35, F-16, and F-15 fighter jets, as well as their shelters, inflicting heavy damage on the enemy”, the IRGC said in the statement reported by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.The Jordanian Armed Forces said the kingdom had engaged 20 ballistic missiles, intercepting and destroying 18 of them, while two fell in open areas.A Trump administration official in Washington, DC, said the barrage of ballistic missiles fired at US forces in Jordan did not inflict any casualties. “The Iranian response was ineffective against integrated air and missile defences,” the official told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.When and why has Iran targeted Jordan?Iran is targeting Jordanian assets in the latest round of escalation, which began two weeks ago with US attacks on rocket launchers on Iran’s Larak island in the Strait of Hormuz. The US claimed Iran was preparing to use the launchers to scatter sea mines in the strait, and Iran responded with strikes on US assets in neighbouring Gulf countries. It has now widened this to include Jordan.