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How Jordan became a target for Iran in war with U.S. · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Oh my God. Since the war began in February, and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: more recently when Iran and the US started trading blows
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: once again, Jordan has largely avoided the kind of onslaught
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  Speaker 1: aimed at places like Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE in
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: countries with large, long established US military bases. That changed
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  Speaker 1: on July sixteenth. That's when Iran launched a salvo of
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  Speaker 1: drones and missiles toward the Mafaua Salti Air Base in Jordan,
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  Speaker 1: which hosts an unspecified number of US military personnel according
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  Speaker 1: to US and Jordanian sources. Within forty eight hours, another
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  Speaker 1: direct attack claimed the lives of three young US soldiers,
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight year old Angel S Rampersad, twenty five year
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  Speaker 1: old Tyler James Fihan, and Isabella Gonzalez, who is just nineteen.
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  Speaker 1: All three of the soldiers were part of the Army
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  Speaker 1: Air Missile Defense VS Command units assigned specifically for air defenses,
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  Speaker 1: including surface to air systems like the Patriot. President Trump
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  Speaker 1: attended their dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base. Earlier
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  Speaker 1: in the Oval office, he appeared to hold Jordanian defense
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  Speaker 1: forces accountable for their debts.
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  Speaker 2: They did slip something through in Jordan, and if we
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  Speaker 2: had other operators, you know, would have not happened. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 2: But because we have the best equipment in the world,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we've stopped almost everything. But when you let
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: other people do your job. With the United States, we
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  Speaker 2: let other people do the job, and sometimes it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: work out so well.
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  Speaker 1: So why Jordan and why now? We put that question
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  Speaker 1: to the missile expert at the Center for Strategic International Studies,
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  Speaker 1: Tom Carrigo.
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  Speaker 3: Well, the first thing, of course, is that they struck
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  Speaker 3: and unfortunately killed a couple of service members, and that's
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  Speaker 3: that's always a tragedy. Second, here we are at this
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  Speaker 3: stage of Epic Fury, Operation Epic Fury, and the missiles
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  Speaker 3: are still taking.
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  Speaker 1: Off, not only taking off, but penetrating air defense systems.
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  Speaker 3: It could be that they're not in the right place
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  Speaker 3: at the right time. The defended footprint of air defenses
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  Speaker 3: is relatively limited, and so you can't be everywhere all
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  Speaker 3: the time. And unfortunately there's many bases, there's many things
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  Speaker 3: that you'd want to protect, and not enough air defenses
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  Speaker 3: to protect everything.
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  Speaker 1: Has Iran recognized in Achilles here.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think that's that's absolutely the case say that again,
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  Speaker 3: that's absolutely the case. Not everything is going to be
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  Speaker 3: as well defended as as the military base in Bahrain
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  Speaker 3: or other high value targets. And again SITCOM has to
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  Speaker 3: make decisions about defense design, about where to place your bets,
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  Speaker 3: where to put your patriot defenses, what to defend thickly,
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  Speaker 3: what to defend thinley, and what are you not able
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  Speaker 3: to defend. Those are hard decisions, but they have to
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  Speaker 3: be made.
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  Speaker 1: Despite months of US ARA strikes and bombardment, Iran not
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  Speaker 1: only retains the capacity to fire missiles toward US military bases,
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  Speaker 1: they salvage some of their most sophisticated weapons, taking advantage
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  Speaker 1: in the lull in fighting during the ceasefire, managing to
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  Speaker 1: dig out of bombed out missile sites and silos, and
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  Speaker 1: launching fire again. Former Jordanian Deputy Chief of Staff kosidmuk
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  Speaker 1: Mood told US Tehran has upped its game. The Iranians
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  Speaker 1: have advanced missile technology. He said, they're developing techniques and
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  Speaker 1: capacities to extend their reach, combining with drones to overwhelm
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  Speaker 1: radar defenses. He added, the Iranians use simple missiles to
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  Speaker 1: distract the radar. They then fire better quality missiles which
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  Speaker 1: change their final target in the last thirty or forty kilometers.
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  Speaker 1: Analysts say that change in trajectory, known as maneuverrable re
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  Speaker 1: entry warhead, makes it harder to intercept the missiles, even
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  Speaker 1: for advanced American defense systems. Finally, there's the question of
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  Speaker 1: America's network of radar systems throughout the region. Iran made
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  Speaker 1: a priority of knocking them out, or at least trying
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  Speaker 1: to in the first few days of the war.
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  Speaker 3: It's not just the missiles everywhere, it's also you might
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  Speaker 3: say that the degradation of the overall air defense operation,
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  Speaker 3: you know, and maybe the Iranians are getting help, not
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  Speaker 3: really to say, hey, here's the base, go after this,
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  Speaker 3: but I wouldn't be surprised if the Russians or the
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  Speaker 3: Chinese were giving them target information. Hey here's the radar,
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  Speaker 3: and here is the command of control hub that allows
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  Speaker 3: these things to function.
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  Speaker 1: What is clear Iran is taking aim at Jordan and
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  Speaker 1: its forces here in ways not seen since the start
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  Speaker 1: of the war, launching drones and missiles on a daily basis,
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  Speaker 1: testing air defenses in the search for another deadly direct hit.
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  Speaker 1: Charlie Dagged, a CBS News Amman, Jordan,