Tension between Jordan, Iran

The Jordanian weekly al-Bilad issued on Wednesday accused Iran of planning for attempts to launch missile attacks against Jordan and Israel though training members in Iran to carry them out.

The magazine quoted a high ranking American official as saying that there were more 17 attempts to wage missile and artillery attacks against Jordan and Israel in which Iran was clearly involved.

The paper added that the Jordanian King Abdullah II expressed in two telephone calls with the Iranian President Muhammad Khatami his strong regret from the Iranian attempt to destabilize Jordan's security and that the Jordanian king asked from his ambassador in Tehran Bassam al-Ammoush to hand the Iranian leadership a message of clear protest coupled with security files on persons that entered the Jordanian territories illegally carrying Iranian made weapons and missiles.

The paper said that the CIA monitored the Iranian activities in Jordan.