Iran views claims it is involved in an attack that killed three US service members in northeastern Jordan near Syria’s border as “baseless”, foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday.

Kanaani also said the continuation of US strikes on Syria and Iraq as well as the war in Gaza will only intensify a cycle of instability in the region.

US President Joe Biden blamed Iran-backed groups for the unmanned aerial drone attack on US forces, the first deadly strike against US forces since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October and sent shock waves throughout West Asia.

Kanaani said “resistance groups” do not take orders from the Islamic Republic.

Earlier, Iran’s mission to the US issued a statement affirming that “Iran had no connection and had nothing to do with the attack on the US base”.

It added: “There is a conflict between US forces and resistance groups in the region, which reciprocate retaliatory attacks.”

The attack is a major escalation of the already tense situation in West Asia, where war broke out in Gaza after an attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Israel on October 7.

Armed groups

Regional armed groups aligned with Iran respond to “American aggressors” at their own discretion, the Iranian minister of intelligence said on Monday, a day after three US soldiers were killed in attacks on US bases in Jordan.

Esmail Khatib, speaking on Iranian state TV, used the phrase “Axis of Resistance”, which refers to a loose coalition that includes Hamas and armed Shia groups around the region that have militarily confronted Israel and its western allies. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella organisation of hardline Iran-backed militant groups, claimed the attacks on three bases, including one on the Jordan-Syria border.

Four executed

Iran carried out the death sentences of four people on Monday that it says were linked to an Israeli intelligence operation after the Supreme Court rejected their appeal, Iranian state media reported.

The defendants were accused of illegally entering Iranian territory from Iraq’s Kurdistan region to carry out a bombing operation.

Their operation was meant to take place in the summer of 2022 on behalf of Israel’s Mossad and was averted by Iranian intelligence. Iran and Israel are longtime foes and are currently locked in a row over Iran’s nuclear programme. Israel accuses Iran of backing militant attacks against it, while Iran says Israel has carried out a number of killings of Iranian officials and scientists. Israel does not confirm nor deny such actions.