Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi arrived on a rare visit to Tehran on Sunday afternoon amid Iranian threats to attack Israel and perhaps drag the Middle East into all-out war.
Safadi traveled to the Iranian capital to “deliver a message from His Majesty King Abdullah II to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the situation in the region and bilateral relations,” Amman said.
The visit marks the first diplomatic trip to the Islamic Republic by a high-level Jordanian official since his predecessor, Nasser Judeh, led a government delegation to Tehran in 2015.
Safadi was expected to meet with his Iranian counterpart and other senior officials, Tehran’s official IRNA news agency reported.
The Iranian regime has vowed revenge following the July 31 killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who died in an explosion at his Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps guesthouse in Tehran. Both Iran and Hamas have accused Jerusalem of carrying out the assassination.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered a direct attack on the Jewish state following the alleged Israeli attack on the high-security compound, The New York Times reported last week, citing Iranian officials.
Israel has also been awaiting the response by Iran’s terrorist proxies since it killed Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukr, a commander responsible for a recent rocket attack that killed 12 children in the Golan Heights, as well as a 1983 bombing that killed more than 300 U.S. and French troops in Beirut.
On April 13, the Royal Jordanian Air Force participated in a coalition that helped shoot down most of the 300 missiles and drones fired towards Israel as part of Iran’s first-ever direct attack on the Jewish state.
Amman, a frequent and harsh critic of Israel’s war against Hamas, intercepted dozens of drones hurtling through its airspace towards Israel.
Jerusalem and its allies managed to intercept 99% of the threats, while none of the 170 drones launched by Tehran penetrated Israel’s airspace.
U.S. officials told CNN on Friday that it remains to be seen whether the coalition could be re-established before Iran attacks and whether all the countries that assisted the April effort are still willing to participate.
Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in televised remarks on Thursday announced that international partners would “strengthen their forces in the region” amid the looming Iranian threat.
