Multiple U.S. military aircraft damaged in Iranian strikes on military base in Jordan, sources say
Multiple American military aircraft were damaged in Iranian strikes overnight Tuesday into Wednesday local time on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, people with direct knowledge of the matter told CBS News.
One A-10 Thunderbolt, an attack aircraft known as the Warthog, was struck and lost a wing, the sources said.
Roughly eight F-15s sustained light damage and were reportedly put back into service, according to the people familiar with the damage, who spoke to CBS News under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
No U.S. deaths have been reported in the strikes on Jordan.
The overnight damage came after the U.S. said Tuesday it attacked five Iranian tankers in retaliation for Iran targeting a U.S. Navy warship. In response, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it launched attacks at eight tankers and two warships, including the base in Jordan.
U.S. forces in Jordan launched more than 30 Patriot missiles defending against the Iranian strikes in Jordan.
CBS News previously reported that U.S. officials are concerned over the rapidly declining stockpile of Patriot missiles among other types of precision munitions.
President Trump said Wednesday that Iran is desperate to affect the midterm elections and mused that the war would end right afterward.
"I think the war will end immediately after the election, because they can't hold out any longer," the president told reporters before heading to Texas. "They're desperate to try and affect the election so we can get a nice, weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon."
"All they want is a nuclear weapon and if they had a nuclear weapon the whole world is in deep trouble," he said.
Despite the claims, Mr. Trump said he's not looking to negotiate with Iran in the near future, before the midterms.
"We're not looking for it, to be honest," Mr. Trump said. "Originally I wanted to make a deal. We're so far down the line, they have very little country left right now, so we're not looking for it. Yes, a negotiation could possibly happen but it's not something we're looking at."
