Tehran says it wasn’t behind attack that killed 3 U.S. troops, wounded at least 25 others in Jordan

Iran is denying any involvement in a drone attack that killed three U.S. service members and wounded at least 25 others at a base near the Jordan-Syria border late Saturday.

President Biden blamed Iran-backed militant forces for the attack on a base in northeast Jordan known as Tower 22. He said the United States “will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner (of) our choosing.”

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said resistance groups in the Middle East are not taking their cues from Tehran.

“Repeating the unfounded allegations against Iran is shifting the blame and a plot by those who see their interests in, once again, getting the U.S. involved in a new conflict in the region and [provoking] it to expand and escalate the crisis in order to put a lid on their problems in this way,” Mr. Kanaani said in a statement.

A number of Republican lawmakers are calling on the White House to take direct action against Iran for its part in the attack. Mr. Biden has said the U.S. will retaliate against those responsible “at a time and in a manner of our choosing.”

Mr. Kanaani blamed the cycle of violence in the region on Israeli actions in Gaza and the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, which he called “ongoing and repeated violations” of the nations’ sovereignty. The U.S. said its troops are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government as part of an international coalition to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State terror army.

The U.S. has accused Tehran of backing several terror groups in the region, from the Hezbollah militants in Lebanon firing missiles into Israel to the Houthi rebels in Yemen targeting commercial shipping passing through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

Mr. Kanaani said Iran isn’t involved in the decision-making process of “resistance factions” that support the Palestinian cause.

“Iran is monitoring the developments in the region with preparedness and vigilance, and the responsibility for the repercussions of provocative allegations against Iran lies with those who make such baseless claims,” Mr. Kanaani said.