Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel and the prospect of escalating hostilities has threatened to embroil Jordan, a key Western ally and a country regarded by Gulf states as pivotal to their own security.

When the Islamic Republic fired a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel on Saturday night, Jordan helped shoot down some that flew over its capital Amman, with Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi saying the kingdom saw the projectiles as posing “a real danger” to its territory.

While he was quick to say the country would do the same if Israel were to use Jordanian airspace to attack Iran, the move led to a torrent of online abuse in the Islamic Republic. State media reposted a missive on social-media site X calling Jordanian King Abdullah II “a traitor” and pro-Tehran accounts shared memes of the king dressed in an Israel Defense Forces uniform.

It was all too much for Jordanian authorities, which summoned the Iranian ambassador to demand an end to the insults.

Jordan had already seen weeks of protests in Amman in support of Hamas, the Iran-backed militia that Israel has been fighting in Gaza since October, and the Palestinians who have died or had their lives upended by the conflict. Chants and slogans like ‘all of Jordan is Hamas’ and ‘Jordanian day of rage’ alarmed security officials and led to multiple arrests. Authorities have also been on high alert after Iran-backed Iraqi militia leader Abu Ali Al-Askary vowed to flood Jordan with enough weapons for 12,000 fighters to march on Israel.

All of this has raised concerns about Jordan’s stability in both Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, and both Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed have offered their support to King Abdullah.

“For Saudi Arabia, Jordan is a bulwark against further Iranian expansion” in the Levant, said Ali Shihabi, a Saudi commentator close to the royal court.

It all adds up to a conundrum for Jordan, a kingdom of some 11 million people, many of them descendants of Palestinian refugees, sandwiched between Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the Palestinian territory of the West Bank. Jordanian officials feel caught between an Israeli government which they openly describe as a threat to regional peace and security, and a confrontational Iranian regime eager to leverage the increasingly unpopular war in Gaza to expand its influence and reach.

Jordan’s not the only Arab country trying to balance countering Iran with rising pro-Palestinian sentiment. Saudi Arabia has downplayed reports it also shot down some of the projectiles fired by Iran. The country and the UAE said they were both deeply concerned about the regional political situation following Saturday’s attack, but neither of them explicitly condemned Iran.

Tough Words

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