Tracker
Jordan - Iran Foreign Relations
Reaction to June 2009 Iranian Presidential Election:
Following the 2009 Iranian presidential elections, in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won re-election, the Jordanian government remained silent, neither offering a message congratulating Ahmadinejad nor criticizing Iran. "[1]
Nuclear:
Jordanian officials began speaking publicly against the Iranian nuclear program in 2006. In March 2006, Jordanian and Pakistani diplomats issued a joint statement from Amman calling for peaceful dialogue to confront the Iranian nuclear “crisis.”[2] In May 2006, Jordanian diplomats voiced their hopes for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff between Iran and the West.[3]
In 2007, in response to Jordanian concerns over the Iranian nuclear program, Jordanian King Abdullah II articulated his government’s goal to attain nuclear capabilities by 2015.[4] In an interview in November 2007 with Germany’s Der Spiegel, King Abdullah said that he believed Iran sought to develop nuclear weapons and said that absolute transparency in was necessary for the safety of the Middle East as a whole.[5] Since then, Jordan has signed a 2008 agreement with China for uranium exploration and mining cooperation and a 2009 deal to build four new nuclear reactors over a ten year period.[6]
King Abdullah met with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Amman in November 2009, calling for a dialogue to resolve international disputes over Iran’s nuclear program and saying that the United States should help lead the way in peaceful negotiations.[7]
Economic Relationship:
Officials from Iran and Jordan’s ministries of agriculture met in January 1998 to discuss bilateral trade and agricultural agreements geared toward the exchange of knowledge and agricultural equipment between the two countries.[8] Jordan Industry and Trade Minister Mohammed Saleh Hourani and Iranian Industry Minister Golam Rida Shafei signed three agreements and several memoranda of understanding to increase bilateral cooperation in trade, agriculture, transport, telecommunications, culture, tourism, and energy.[9]
Diplomatic/Military Relationship:
Iran and Jordan ceased diplomatic relations after the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979. Relations between Amman and Tehran tentatively resumed in 1991, though Jordan and Iran have often espoused opposing viewpoints on several important regional issues, including the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war, the Arab-Israeli peace process, and the ownership dispute between Iran and the UAE over three Gulf islands.[10] Despite these differences, Jordanian King Abdullah II met with Ayatollah Ali Khameini in September 2003 to discuss the Palestinian and Iraqi questions, becoming the first Jordanian king to visit Tehran since 1979.[11] Abdullah expressed his interest in coordination and consultations between Jordan and Iran, saying that the two countries could be instrumental to maintaining region peace.[12] In May 2006, King Abdullah met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki to discuss Iran’s hostility toward Israel and its support of Palestinian militant groups.[13] King Abdullah cited Iran’s support of such groups as detrimental to the on-going peace process and was especially concerned by reports of Hamas plots to stage attacks on Israel from Jordanian soil using rocket launchers supplied by Iran.[14] In the same month, Jordanian speaker of parliament Abdel Hadi Majali accused Iran of threatening Jordanian security through its continued support of Hamas and Iran’s controversial nuclear program.[15]
In June 2009, Jordan also revoked the licenses of two Iranian news outlets.[16] In October 2009, King Abdullah asserted, however, that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and not the Iranian nuclear program was the most important regional security issue and should take precedence in Middle East negotiations.[17] During a November 2009 meeting with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), King Abdullah stated that Jordan did not condone any anti-Iran measure, saying instead that dialogue was necessary to normalize diplomatic relations with Iran. [18]
Jordanian intelligence officials connected the January 2010 assassination of physics professor Massoud Ali Mohammad in Tehran with a failed bombing of an Israeli delegation in Amman, Jordan. Jordan’s General Intelligence Department announced that it believed that al Qaeda supporters financed by Iran were responsible for the unsuccessful bomb attack on the Israeli envoy.[19] No one was injured, and a Jordanian taxi driver was arrested in connection with the incident, but Jordanian intelligence concluded that the explosion was retaliation for the Tehran bomb attack that Iran had blamed on the U.S. and Israel.[20]
In late January 2010, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki appointed his special aide in strategic planning, Mostafa Moslehzade, as Tehran’s new ambassador to Jordan.[21]
