Amman - AFP
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter landed in Jordan Tuesday, where he was to meet American troops and colleagues of a Jordanian pilot burned alive by the Daesh group.
Carter is on the second leg of a regional mission to try to reassure Washington's allies over the nuclear deal between major powers and Iran, but he was not scheduled to hold talks with Jordanian officials on that subject.
He was to meet US forces stationed in Jordan as well as comrades of Jordanian Lieutenant Maaz al-Kassasbeh, who was captured in December after his plane was shot down during a mission over Syria.
In a video two months later, IS showed Kassasbeh standing in a cage, where he was doused with fuel and set on fire and left to burn to death. That prompted global revulsion and vows of international efforts to combat the Sunni Muslim extremist group.
Carter is scheduled to travel on to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Earlier Tuesday, he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a fierce critic of last week's nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers.
The Jewish state argues that the expected lifting of sanctions under the deal will allow the Islamic republic to boost support for anti-Israeli militants.