US officials see Iran escalating proxy war into uncharted terrain with Jordan strike

A deadly drone attack by an Iranian-backed militia on a US outpost in Jordan is raising questions in Washington about how far Iran and its allies will go in their bid to expel US troops from the region, as they force the Biden administration’s hand to conduct a powerful retaliatory strike that threatens to widen the Gaza war. 

The attack that killed three US soldiers and wounded more than 40 more came just as some officials in Washington assessed that leadership in Tehran and Iran's Quds Force were looking to reduce attacks on US assets, according to current and former US officials who spoke with Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity. The Quds Force is a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that operates as a special operations unit.

Over the weekend, Iran and its Iraqi allies inched closer to a long-term goal of expelling US troops from Iraq, when the Biden administration held its first talks with Baghdad on a planned withdrawal of the US-led mission to counter the Islamic State militant (IS) group in the country.

Just as those discussions were underway, CIA director Bill Burns was sitting down in Paris to hammer out the details of a proposal for a months-long pause in Gaza fighting with Arab and Israeli counterparts.

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