Jordanian Army anti-Terrorism squad members stand on alert in the Yajouz hills on the edge of Amman April 26, 2005. [The U.S.-backed Jordanian government is responding to what it sees as a higher risk of terror attacks by boosting its special forces and training troops from neighbouring countries such as Iraq.] Ali Jarekji/REUTERS BEIRUT – Dramatic reports have emerged in Jordan that the country’s security forces have stopped an Iranian terror plot following the arrest of a man affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).

Jordan’s leading Al-Rai newspaper first broke the story of the thwarted terror plot early Monday, reporting that security forces had arrested an Iraqi-Norwegian national in possession of 45 kilograms of explosives in the north of the country.

A source told the daily that the man was affiliated with an Iranian group and was plotting terror attacks in Jordan.

“This case is the largest in ten years in terms of the amount of explosive materials and their quality,” the source explained.

The Jordanian paper later took down the story, replacing it with a newer version explaining that Jordan’s State Security Court issued a decision banning the publication of stories related to the issue of the arrested man.

Later in the day, AFP cited a judicial source as saying that “security services thwarted a terrorist plan at the last minute which was going to be carried out by an Iraqi on behalf of Iran's Quds Force,” the special forces branch of the IRGC.

London-based Alaraby Aljadeed also covered the story, reporting that “Jordan’s State Security Court started the trial of an Iraqi man on Monday who stands accused of attempting to carry out terrorist acts on Jordanian territory at the orders of Iranian intelligence.”

The paper identified the suspect as 49-year old Khaled al-Rabiyaey, adding that the indictment against him “revealed that he had played a part in a number of assassinations carried out at the behest of Iranian intelligence.”

“Al-Rabiaey intended to use the explosives to carry out terrorist acts inside the kingdom and this would have been on behalf of Iranian intelligence — of which [he is a member],” a security source told the newspaper.

“He was arrested at a previous [unspecified] time and 45 kilograms of a highly explosive material were found in his possession,” the source added.

“He had hidden [the explosives] in a neighborhood in the city of Jerash.”

Situated some 48 kilometers north of the capital Amman, Jerash is Jordan’s second most visited tourist destination after the ruins of Petra and has a population of over 40,000.