(Reuters) – Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in a statement on Monday that Tehran was not involved in an attack that killed three U.S. service members in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border.

In a statement published by the state news agency IRNA, the mission said: “Iran had no connection and had nothing to do with the attack on the U.S. base.”

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

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

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

(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Yomna Ehab; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

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