Jordan says it will not be a battlefield for Iran or Israel

(Patria) - Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi stated on Saturday that the kingdom will not be a battlefield for Iran or Israel, as the region prepares for a possible new wave of attacks from Tehran and its allies following the liquidation of high-ranking members of Hamas and Hezbollah.

"We will not be a battlefield for Iran or Israel. We have informed the Iranians and Israelis that we will not allow anyone to violate our airspace and risk the safety of our citizens," the Jordanian Foreign Minister said in an interview with Al Arabiya.

"We intercept anything that passes through our airspace or that we deem a threat to us or our citizens," he added.

In April, Jordan said it had intercepted flying objects that entered its airspace as Tehran launched drones and fired missiles at Israel in the first direct attack of its kind. Following that attack, launched in retaliation for an Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Jordanian, Iraqi, and Turkish officials said Iran had given them some early warning of its action.

Iran had promised to "punish" Israel for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas, in Tehran on July 31. Iran and Hamas blame Israel for the killing.

Israel has not claimed or denied responsibility for the killing, which has fueled concerns that the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip could spill over into a wider conflict in the Middle East.

These concerns were also fueled by the killing of Hezbollah's top military commander, Fuad Shukr, in an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut hours before Haniyeh's killing.