AMMAN, Jordan — Iranian ballistic missiles damaged multiple U.S. military aircraft at a key air base in Jordan this week, marking a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran and complicating earlier American assessments that the attack had been largely ineffective.

An A-10 Thunderbolt II suffered severe damage to one of its wings, while approximately eight F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets sustained lighter damage but remain considered serviceable, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to Air & Space Forces Magazine. The damage to the American aircraft was first reported by CBS News. A spokesperson for U.S. Central Command did not respond to a request for comment on the reported damage.

The strikes hit Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, a major U.S.-operated air facility in Jordan's Zarqa governorate, also known as Al-Azraq. Iranian state media reported that the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched the attack, describing it as devastating strikes targeting maintenance, preparation and deployment sites for F-35, F-16 and F-15 aircraft stationed at the base.

The attack came directly in response to American military action a day earlier. U.S. forces struck and destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Sept. 8, according to U.S. Central Command, as the confrontation between the United States and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz continued escalating. Iran retaliated by launching a barrage of ballistic missiles toward the American base in Jordan.

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