Iran Goes Looking for Love in Jordan
Iran is attempting to influence Jordanian public opinion following military strikes on U.S. bases in the region. The strategy involves shifting from direct aggression to diplomatic flattery to undermine U.S.-Arab alliances.
Why it matters
It illustrates a shift in Iranian regional strategy aimed at destabilizing U.S. influence in the Middle East through psychological operations.
Tehran wants the Arab public to balk at the cost of allying with the United States.
Christopher Lee / Getty August 7, 2026, 7 AM ET Share Save In late July, Iran struck a U.S. military base in Jordan, killing three American service members. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps followed up with an unusual series of messages to the Jordanian people: “You know well that we have no hostility toward your country,” the IRGC declared in a statement published on Iran’s Fars News Agency. “Rather, we love you, noble people who understand the suffering and injustice endured by the Palestinian people more than any other nation.”
Another message cheekily thanked unnamed Jordanians for providing targeting information for the Iranian strikes. A third appeared to address Jordanian critics of the operation, saying that the United States, not Iran, had “violated your territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
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