Fresh cross-hostilities between Iranian and American forces across the Persian Gulf spilled into civilian infrastructure Wednesday, as a reported drone attack on the main passenger terminal at Kuwait International Airport left multiple people wounded and forced an immediate suspension of all air traffic.
The incident represents one of the most serious breaches of the fragile ceasefire agreement reached between the United States and Iran on April 8, a truce that has held largely despite intermittent skirmishes since a month-long full-scale war broke out following a joint US-Israeli strike on Iran in late February that killed the country’s supreme leader.
Kuwaiti defense officials have formally pinned responsibility for the airport attack on Tehran, but Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) pushed back on the narrative, saying the entire sequence of overnight clashes was triggered by a US strike on an Iranian communications tower on Qeshm Island, a strategic territory in the Gulf that left Tehran with no choice but to respond.
The escalation also saw Bahrain confirm it faced a separate wave of drone attacks launched from Iranian territory overnight, prompting the United Arab Emirates to move quickly to rally Gulf Arab states behind a unified front opposing Tehran. “In light of Iran’s repeated aggression against the sisterly states of Kuwait and Bahrain, a firm, unified, and cohesive Gulf stance is imperative,” UAE presidential advisor Anwar Gargash wrote in a social media post Wednesday. “This aggression does not just target one country, it targets us all.”
Brigadier General Saud Abdulaziz Al-Atwan, spokesman for Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense, characterized the airport strike as “criminal Iranian aggression which resulted in significant material damage to the building and injuries.” While Al-Atwan did not disclose the exact number of casualties, he confirmed all injured people had received urgent medical care. Kuwait’s state-owned news agency Kuna added that the country’s civil aviation authority halted all flights and diverted incoming planes to alternate airports after the attack hit Terminal 1, causing casualties and structural damage.
The IRGC has not explicitly confirmed it targeted the Kuwaiti airport, but released a statement acknowledging it launched retaliatory strikes in response to US actions. The statement said IRGC Aerospace Force units hit a US air base, US military helicopters hosted in a regional country, and the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet with a combination of missiles and drones.
Kuwait International Airport, which has been hit multiple times since the wider war began, only fully resumed normal commercial operations on June 1. The oil-rich Gulf monarchy, a longstanding US ally, has faced repeated Iranian accusations of allowing American forces to launch offensive strikes from its territory, a charge that has made it a recurring target for Tehran’s attacks since the war began in late February.
US Central Command (Centcom) confirmed in a statement Wednesday that it had “successfully defeated” a wave of Iranian missile and drone attacks targeting both Kuwait and Bahrain, and acknowledged it had conducted preemptive strikes on Qeshm Island. “Two Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait fell short or broke apart en route, and three missiles launched at Bahrain were immediately intercepted by US and Bahrain air defense forces,” Centcom said. Bahraini authorities separately confirmed they intercepted three Iranian missiles and an unspecified number of drones.
The sudden escalation in Gulf tensions comes as senior officials from the US, Israel and Lebanon gathered in Washington for rare direct negotiations aimed at ending the parallel conflict between Israel and the Iran-aligned militant group Hezbollah, which opened a second front when it attacked northern Israel on March 2 to support Iran amid the US-Israeli invasion.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that Hezbollah remains the only barrier to reaching a ceasefire agreement. The Lebanese embassy in Washington outlined that any initial deal would only pause Israeli strikes on Beirut and Hezbollah attacks on Israeli territory, with broader negotiations to follow once a preliminary truce takes hold. To date, neither side has publicly accepted the US-backed framework. Senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati told AFP in a written statement that the group “will not accept a partial ceasefire.”
Israeli forces carried out deadly strikes on roughly 30 locations across southern Lebanon Tuesday, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. Hezbollah confirmed it had targeted Israeli troops in the occupied border areas of southern Lebanon but did not claim any strikes inside Israeli territory. Since the conflict began in March, Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,465 Lebanese people, according to the Lebanese health ministry, while at least 26 Israeli soldiers and one civilian contractor have been killed in Hezbollah attacks.
On Wednesday, a medical source told AFP six additional people were killed in Israeli strikes near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre.
Rubio emphasized that the Washington talks on Lebanon remain separate from ceasefire negotiations with Iran over the broader Gulf war, but Tehran has repeatedly linked the two conflicts. Earlier this week, Iranian officials warned that Israel’s expanding ground campaign in Lebanon could lead to the full collapse of the April 8 ceasefire between Iran and the US. In recent days, Israeli forces launched their deepest ground incursion into Lebanese territory in two decades, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered strikes on the dense Hezbollah stronghold of southern Beirut, citing what he called repeated violations of an April 17 ceasefire that has never been respected by either side.
However, reporting from US news outlet Axios revealed that President Donald Trump pressured Netanyahu to reverse course on the expanded offensive, calling the Israeli prime minister “crazy” during a private phone call. Following the call, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced a new, US-backed understanding: Israel will only target southern Beirut if Hezbollah continues to launch cross-border attacks into Israel.