World
Jordan remains ‘last holdout’ as Iran looks to create new ‘terror front' on Israeli border
As Israel continues to brace itself under the threat of an imminent attack from Iran or its proxy forces, including Hamas and Hezbollah, security experts are sounding the alarm that Tehran has its sites set on Jordan as its next great “terror front.”
“Jordan is the last holdout,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran expert and senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) told Fox News Digital. “It’s the last bastion of the pro-Western or status quo order in the heartland of the northern part of the Middle East.”
The security expert pointed to Iran’s growing influence and support for proxy fighters not only in Gaza, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, but further out across the Arabian Peninsula, including Yemen and Oman, where anti-Israel sentiment is on the rise.
Houthi fighters march during a rally of support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and against the U.S. strikes on Yemen, outside Sanaa on Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo)
“Increasingly, the regime has benefited from the rise in anti-Israel sentiment to cause instability in Jordan,” Ben Taleblu said.
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Growing concern over how Tehran will use anti-Israeli sentiment in the Middle East coincided with a warning issued Monday by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who said Iran was working “to establish a new eastern terror front against Israel’s major population centers.”
The Israeli official said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is coordinating with “Hamas operatives in Lebanon to smuggle weapons and funds into Jordan” with the apparent aim of destabilizing the Israeli neighbor.
Katz said smuggled arms are transported across Jordan’s western border into the West Bank, known as Judea and Samaria, with a particular focus on refugee camps and the goal of establishing pro-Iranian sentiment as it has done in areas like Gaza and southern Lebanon.
“The Iranian axis of evil today effectively controls refugee camps in Judea and Samaria through its proxies, leaving the Palestinian Authority powerless to act,” Katz added.
Locator map of Israel and the Palestinian Territories. (AP Photo)
Jordan’s border with Israel is the Jewish state’s longest shared border, reportedly stretching some 300 miles from the contested Golan Heights in the north, through the Palestinian West Bank and the Dead Sea, before ending at the Gulf of Aqaba.
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Though Katz’s warnings come as tensions between Israel and Iran have reached a historic peak, local reporting shows that Iranian-led smuggling efforts have plagued Jordanian security efforts for years.
The Jordanian regime over the last half decade has increasingly been working to stop smuggling operations to help prevent the formation of anti-Israel terrorist cells in the West Bank.
Hundreds of people gather to follow the speech of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, on a screen, in Beirut, Lebanon on Nov. 3, 2023. (Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Ultimately [that would] be a benefit to the Islamic Republic, because it could allow for a full encirclement of Israel,” Ben Taleblu said. “The one thing that stands in the way of all of this is the Jordanian monarchy and the strength of the Jordanian security services.”
Jordanian officials have been working to ease tensions in the region by meeting with U.S., Israeli and Iranian officials over recent weeks following Tehran’s threat to hit the Jewish state directly.
Though even as Jordan works to maintain the status quo in the region and prevent an all-out war, it has also warned it will not become a battleground state for either nation to utilize.
A soldier attaches an Israeli flag to an armored personnel carriers near the border with Gaza, in southern Israel, April 15, 2024.
“We will not be a battlefield for Iran or Israel. We informed the Iranians and the Israelis that we will not allow anyone to violate our airspace and risk the safety of our citizens,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in a Saturday interview, according to a Reuters report.
“We will intercept anything that passes through our airspace or think that it constitutes a threat to us or our citizens,” he added.
World
Russia linked to arson attacks on properties connected to UK PM Keir Starmer, police say
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Officials on Monday revealed new details about a series of arson attacks targeting properties connected to U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, alleging the suspects were recruited and directed by a Russian-speaking handler.
According to police and court reporting, the suspects were promised payment to carry out a coordinated campaign in London in May 2025, including attacks involving a vehicle and two properties linked to Starmer.
A new investigation reported that the handler is believed to be a diplomat trained in information warfare and part of a broader Russian sabotage and disinformation operation directed from Moscow, according to the Kyiv Post.
Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, were convicted in connection with the arson plot after Lavrynovych was recruited by a Russian-speaking Telegram handler known as “El Money,” according to police and court reporting. Kyiv Post reported that Carpiuc was also born in Ukraine. A third defendant, Petro Pochynok, 35, was acquitted.
BRITISH POLICE INVESTIGATE FIRE AT PRIME MINISTER KEIR STARMER’S LONDON HOME
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a meeting on Feb. 24, 2026. (Kin Cheung / POOL / AFP via Getty Images))
According to police, Lavrynovych was recruited through Telegram by a Russian-speaking handler saved in his phone contacts as “El Money,” who allegedly directed him through a series of increasingly serious tasks while promising payment in return.
“Look, you attacked the home of a very high-ranking person in Britain. I’ll send you the money you need to leave the city,” the handler allegedly wrote in one message cited by investigators, according to Kyiv Post.
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Officials arrest a Ukrainian man who was later found guilty of setting on fire houses linked to U.K. Prime Minister Starmer. (Metropolitan Police)
The handler reportedly offered Lavrynovych Russian citizenship in exchange for carrying out the attacks and frequently voiced support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the outlet. Evidence also suggested that “El Money” was trained in information warfare by propagandists and intelligence operatives, the outlet said.
Investigators added that Russian operatives allegedly coordinated the campaign remotely through social media platforms and Telegram, using fake far-right and Muslim online communities to sow division and fear in the U.K., Kyiv Post said.
The Russian Embassy has reportedly denied any involvement, rejecting “any attempt to associate Russia or its foreign ministry with unlawful activities,” according to the report.
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Police officers stand outside Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s private home, after it was damaged by fire in a suspected arson attack in north London, Britain, May 13, 2025. (REUTERS/Toby Melville)
According to officials, the three arson attacks occurred over a five-day period in May 2025.
The first attack took place on May 8, when a Toyota vehicle formerly owned by Starmer was set ablaze.
A second fire was set on May 11 at the entrance of a residential property that was managed by a company in which Starmer had previously served as a director and shareholder.
The third attack occurred on May 12 at a house that is owned by the prime minister.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a video conference meeting outside Moscow on April 7, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
“The actions of the two men involved in these arson attacks were incredibly reckless, and it was sheer luck that nobody was killed or injured,” Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said in a statement.
Police said Lavrynovych was arrested on May 13 last year after detectives linked the suspect to the attacks through CCTV footage and phone records indicating he had conducted reconnaissance ahead of the fires.
Authorities said Carpiuc was arrested on May 17 in the departure lounge at Luton Airport moments before boarding a flight to Romania.
World
Video. WATCH: Bolton says Trump played like violin by Iran
Updated:
Iran outmanoeuvred US President Donald Trump “like a violin” in negotiations, walking away with far better terms after sensing his desperation for a deal to end the war, former National Security Adviser John Bolton told Euronews.
World
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