Iran denies link to drone strike in Jordan that killed 3 U.S. soldiers

Iran on Monday said it had no link to the drone strike in Jordan that killed three U.S. soldiers, the country's official news agency IRNA reported.

Iran's mission to the United Nations said in a statement that Tehran was not involved in the attack that caused the U.S. fatalities in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border.

In a statement published by IRNA, the mission said, "Iran had no connection and had nothing to do with the attack on the U.S. base."

It added, "There is a conflict between the U.S. forces and resistance groups in the region, which reciprocate retaliatory attacks."

U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday blamed Iran-backed groups for the unmanned aerial drone attack on U.S. forces, the first deadly strike against U.S. forces since the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted in October and sent shockwaves throughout the Middle East.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iraqi Shiite militia, on Sunday claimed responsibility for drone attacks on three U.S. bases in Syria and a naval facility in Israel.

The group said in an online statement that its fighters launched explosive-laden drones on three U.S. military bases in Syria, including the al-Shaddadi base, the al-Tanf base and the Rukban camp near Syria's borders with Iraq and Jordan. It added that it launched a fourth drone strike on the Zevulun naval facility near the port city of Haifa in Israel.

The group said the attacks were part of a series of retaliatory measures against the U.S. forces amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement that three U.S. troops were killed and dozens more injured in a drone attack on a U.S. base in northeastern Jordan, near the Syrian border.

Jordanian Minister of Government Communications Muhannad Mubaidin on Sunday also confirmed to Jordan's state-run Al Mamlaka TV that an attack had targeted the al-Tanf base in southeastern Syria, affirming that no attack targeting U.S. forces occurred on the country's soil.

It is not clear yet whether the drone attack is the same that the group carried out near Syria's borders with Iraq and Jordan.

The attack is a major escalation of the already tense situation in the Middle East, where conflict broke out in Gaza after an attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Israel on October 7.

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(With input from agencies)