Iran Launches Ballistic Missiles at US Base

in Jordan Amid Escalating West Asia Conflict

Report By Y-Trendz

Amman/Washington — July 29, 2026

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched multiple ballistic missiles at American forces in the Middle East on Tuesday, July 28, in what US Central Command described as an attempted "surprise

attack," reigniting fears of a fresh escalation just days after President Donald Trump had ordered a pause in US strikes on Iran.

The Attack

CENTCOM said forces from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched the missiles at 5:45pm ET on Tuesday, adding that "U.S. forces remain vigilant and at a high state of readiness." A senior US official told Axios that the missiles were targeting an American base in Jordan, and a separate US official told The Jerusalem Post that Iran had launched at least four ballistic missiles toward the base, calling it "a major attack."

All of the incoming missiles were successfully intercepted, according to CENTCOM. Open-source intelligence trackers shared footage appearing to show intense air-defense activity over Jordan, including near Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, with US Patriot missile systems reportedly engaging the incoming threats.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards told Iranian state media that the IRGC had "fired ballistic missiles at US air bases and US military Central Command center in Jordan." In a statement addressed to the Jordanian people, the IRGC claimed it had targeted and destroyed an American fighter jet storage ramp and a new American command-and-control centre at a large base in Al-Azraq, Jordan.

Timing and Context

The strikes came hours after Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House — their first in-person meeting since the two countries launched joint strikes against Iran on February 28. Trump had ordered a pause on strikes against Iran the preceding Friday, following that meeting, and Iran has nearly every time responded to renewed hostilities by firing one-way attack drones and missiles at US bases across the Gulf region, including in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar.

This is not an isolated flare-up: CENTCOM said that on the same evening, US and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple logistics and weapons sites in eastern Iraq in response to what it described as more than 30 IRGC-directed drone attacks over the preceding 72 hours. Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry later confirmed it had participated in the strikes, saying they were coordinated with CENTCOM. CENTCOM said the attacks on US forces were unsuccessful, and separately noted there had been more than 600 attempted attacks on US citizens and facilities in Iraq by Iran-aligned militias between February and April alone. "The IRGC and its terrorist proxies must cease these attacks to avoid further U.S. military response," CENTCOM said in a statement.

Part of a Wider, Months-Long Conflict

President Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on February 28, with massive joint US-Israeli strikes hitting military, government and infrastructure sites across the country. Delegations from the US and Iran subsequently entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal built around a signed memorandum of understanding — but the two sides have continued to exchange relatively limited strikes even after that agreement, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining the primary flashpoint throughout.

The pattern echoed earlier rounds of the conflict. In mid-July, Iran fired drones and missiles at Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan following a stretch of US strikes on Iranian cities, including on a partly built nuclear facility at Darkhovin, with Kuwaiti authorities reporting that one attack started a fire at a power and water plant. Bahrain said at the time that it had thwarted Iranian missile-and-drone attacks, while Jordan said it had shot down three of four incoming Iranian missiles.

Toll of the Wider Campaign

Iran's Health Ministry has said at least 35 people have been killed and more than 300 injured inside Iran since fighting resumed in mid-July, underscoring the human cost of the broader exchange even as strikes on Gulf-based American installations have so far been repelled without reported US casualties in this latest round.

An ABC News analysis of satellite imagery and video previously found that Iranian-claimed missile and drone strikes had damaged at least three bases hosting US assets in Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar since hostilities resumed in early July, along with a former UN base camp and an industrial area in Kuwait.

What Comes Next

With Trump's brief pause in US strikes now punctuated by Tuesday's Iranian missile launch and the retaliatory US-Saudi strikes on Iran-aligned militias in Iraq, the already fragile de-escalation appears increasingly tenuous. Diplomatic channels — including Oman's recently floated Strait of Hormuz fee proposal — remain open, but Tuesday's exchange signals that both sides continue to hold military options firmly on the table even as talks proceed.