Israel says Iran has launched missiles towards Jordan

The United States has warned its citizens to stay away from air and sea ports in the southern Jordanian city of Aqaba, hours before Israeli authorities announced that Iranian missiles had been launched towards the city.The notice was issued by the US Embassy in the Jordanian capital Amman on Sunday afternoon local time, after what it said was a "specific and credible threat," and followed days of sustained attacks by Iran on the Middle Eastern kingdom.However, Jordan's state news agency, citing a government spokesperson, had said neither the Aqaba airport or port had been evacuated and there were no potential threats detected in recent hours, fuelling confusion about what was actually happening.Around two hours after the US warning, the Israeli military confirmed it had detected incoming Iranian missiles.Aqaba's airport is just a few kilometres from the Jordan-Israel border, and the southern Israeli city of Eilat.Later on Sunday, Jordan announced via its state news agency that it had shot down three missiles, while a fourth fell in a remote area.There were no injuries or "material damage", it added.Jordan is one of the US's closest allies in the region, and American military personnel operate out of a number of bases across the country.Two American soldiers were killed in one such Iranian attack over the weekend, while a third is missing.Video circulating on social media, which has not been verified by the ABC, reportedly showed a barrage of attacks on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, roughly 100 kilometres east of Amman.Iran has said that US bases and soldiers operating across the Persian Gulf and beyond are fair targets, after an eighth consecutive day of American attacks hit the Islamic Republic.US Central Command said Iranian surveillance systems and missile and drone storage sites were hit in the latest round of attacks.People inspect a bridge damaged in southern Iran on Saturday. (AP: Amirhosein Khorgooi)Iranian state media, citing the country's atomic energy agency, said the US had hit a site of a nuclear power plant, still being built, in the Darkhovin region.It was not clear whether that was a strike during the latest wave of attacks, or happened earlier in the week.Warning sirens rang out across Kuwait and Bahrain for hours after, with Iran following its pattern of hitting the beleaguered Gulf states in response.Mojtaba Khamenei's whereabouts remain a mysteryThe ongoing Iranian attacks, particularly those targeted at Jordan, have cast doubt on the repeated insistence by the US and Israel that many of the regime's launchers and stockpiles had been destroyed earlier in the war.It was just over a month ago that the US president signed a deal to immediately end fighting, and begin negotiations with Iran on a lasting peace.A woman holds a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Reuters: Teba Sadiq)Since then the White House has accused Iran of welching on the deal, and Iran has argued it would not negotiate with the US while under sustained threats of attack.Adding to the complexity of the situation is the continued absence of Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.He has not been seen in public since succeeding his father Ali Khamenei, not appearing appearing at his weeklong funeral alongside his brothers.For months, speculation has swirled that he was severely injured in the strike which killed his father on the very first day of the war, and has been left with significant disfigurement.Saudi news outlet Al Hadath, citing an Israeli security source, has reported he is not even believed to be in Iran, and the statements being attributed to him and read out on state television are actually written by advisors and members of the powerful Revolutionary Guard.Over the weekend another of those missives was broadcast to the country, using familiar rhetoric to criticise the US."The repeated breaches of covenant by the Great Satan regarding the memorandum of understanding signed between the presidents of Iran and the United States once again proved to everyone this truth: that the signature of the President of the United States is utterly worthless and invalid," Ayatollah Khamenei's statement said."Bullying, hegemonic ambition, and savagery are inseparable components of the American creed and way of conduct."Now that the American enemy seeks to foment war and to bear even heavier costs and greater disgrace, it should know that the beloved nation of Iran and the Resistance Front have unforgettable lessons in store for it."The struggle over Strait of HormuzThe return to fighting had been fuelled by the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping channel Iran shut down at the height of the war.The Revolutionary Guard said four ships tried to get through the waterway using an "unsafe route" on Sunday, switching off their electronic tracking signals in the process."Two of them were involved in accidents and stopped where they were, while the other two abandoned their course," a statement read out on Iranian state media said.Last week, Mr Trump announced plans for the US to take control of the Strait of Hormuz and charge Gulf states a fee for transit.He dropped the second part of the proposal hours before it was due to come into force, after lobbying from the countries which would have footed the bill.But the US has reimposed a blockade on all Iranian ports and ships in the region, and Iran has threatened to use its proxies in Yemen, the Houthis, to shut down another shipping lane — the Bab El Mandeb Strait, which is the gateway to the Red Sea.While the continuous strikes between the US and Iran have signalled the ceasefire between the two countries is over, fighting has not returned to the intensity of March and April.Israel, one of the instigators in the conflict, has also not re-entered the fray.Israeli media is reporting more US aircraft, both fighter jets and refuelling planes, have been sent to the region ahead of a potential escalation.While Israel is broadly supportive of the war, the presence of US Air Force planes at the country's main airport has led to significant disruptions.Some large aircraft are taking up space at Ben Gurion Airport, limiting the number of commercial flights that can operate from Tel Aviv during the busy summer tourist season.