Final Warning to Jordan: Muwaffaq Salti Base
Why are Chinese satellites today intensely focused on Jordan's Muwaffaq Al-Salti Air Base? The answer goes far beyond routine military monitoring. There are direct calls to neutralize Jordan from this war and prevent the regional circumstances from destroying the country. The destruction of Jordan would serve no purpose other than giving Israel the opportunity to transfer Palestinians into it.
This may be part of developments with massive regional repercussions. Looking at the broader picture, we are facing the annexation of the West Bank and extremely violent strategies. As former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert himself warned, what is happening in the West Bank speaks volumes. The burning desire to displace Palestinians and transfer them to a destroyed Jordan is the true objective. The strikes directed against Jordan serve one purpose: reducing casualties on Israel's side, shielding Nevatim Air Base and other Israeli installations. This is a legitimate and urgent question.
Thomas Friedman's Warning and the Real War
The second critical issue is the one raised by American journalist Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, who harshly criticized Netanyahu, stating that the war on Iran is a cover for the real war currently being waged in the West Bank. Why is Jordan part of this war? Striking Jordan provides cover for what is happening in the occupied territories.
What Olmert says and what Friedman writes reveals that direct confrontational messages are now being delivered straight to the capital, Amman. When satellite imagery confirms that Jordan now possesses offensive capabilities, including F-35 fighters, the implications are immediate: with F-35s present, Muwaffaq Al-Salti base becomes, by sheer military necessity and regardless of any political calculations, a mandatory target for Iranian strikes.
The Chinese Satellite Revelations: Fourth Publication
China has now published, for the fourth time, the latest modifications to the operational map of the base, and the posture remains overwhelmingly offensive. The satellite images reveal:
- EA-18G Growler Aircraft: These are specialized electronic warfare variants of the F/A-18, operated by the US Navy. The Boeing EA-18G Growler replaced the older EA-6B Prowler and, unlike the standard F/A-18 Super Hornet recently announced by Sentinelcom on the aircraft carrier, it is entirely optimized for electronic warfare missions. Its internal 20mm cannon has been removed and replaced with fully specialized electronic systems.
- Full Electronic Warfare Crews: Each Growler carries a pilot, a weapons systems officer, and a dedicated electronic warfare crew. The sheer volume of these EW teams deployed at the base confirms that electronic warfare is at the core of the planned operation.
- Offensive Armament: The aircraft are armed with AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles for self-protection and AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles specifically designed to attack and destroy enemy radar systems.
The Theater of Operations: Muwaffaq Salti to Lincoln
The operational theater now stretches between Muwaffaq Al-Salti Air Base on land and the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group at sea. F-35 fighters shuttle between the two, landing on the base, then rotating to the carrier, and back again. The F-18s fly from the base to their targets and return to the carrier.
This creates a fully integrated offensive team: the Growlers suppress and blind all enemy radar systems, clearing the path for F-35 stealth fighters to deliver precision strikes undetected. Muwaffaq Al-Salti is the pivot point of this entire operation.
The base is equipped with JASSM-ER cruise missiles, and the electronic warfare component is designed to sweep all radar defenses. This means Muwaffaq Al-Salti will directly participate in the very first strike against Iran. The preparations inside it—through aircraft armed with missiles and a full EW complement to neutralize every radar—confirm a complete, end-to-end offensive posture.
China's True Message: Neutralize or Burn
The Chinese focus for the fourth consecutive time on this base serves a very specific purpose: to put on public record that Jordan is an active participant in the attack on Iran, and that any retaliatory strike on Jordan is therefore fully justified.
China's position is nuanced. Beijing does not want to be against Jordan. Rather, it wants Jordan to neutralize itself and withdraw from the conflict. The pressure to achieve this serves multiple objectives: if Jordan joins the British and Saudi positions of refusing to participate, it will strike at the heart of everything the Americans are planning.
However, there is a darker reading. China may ultimately want Jordan to burn. If Jordan refuses to neutralize itself, it will face devastating Iranian retaliation. What is not being revealed to the Jordanian leadership is being directly exposed to the Jordanian people, so they understand that their country is now in an offensive posture and the response could be devastating.
Jordan as Fuel for Someone Else's War
The transformation of Jordan into an open base—where Lincoln operates at sea and the Growlers of the US Navy sit in the heart of this land base—means America is openly pursuing an offensive strategy launched from Jordan against Iran.
This is extraordinarily difficult to accept, especially from the Chinese and Iranian perspective. For Iran, not bombing Jordan remains important for multiple reasons—including the Hashemite lineage and other historical ties. Iran wants to isolate Jordan from this battle.
This is the fourth message through which both China and Iran are trying to push Jordan away and neutralize it from a war in which Jordan is being turned into fuel for a conflict that is not its own.
Note: This article is part of our Political Economy series, providing deep strategic analysis on global macroeconomic and geopolitical shifts.