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In brief
- The US military attacked Iran’s Qeshm Island, saying the strikes were in “self-defence”.
- Israel and Hezbollah have continued fighting despite a partial ceasefire deal announced on Tuesday.
A drone strike at Kuwait’s international airport passenger terminal on Wednesday left several people injured and prompted the suspension of air traffic. The incident occurred amidst escalating tensions between Iranian and US forces in the Gulf.
This attack represents one of the most severe challenges to date against the tenuous ceasefire established on April 8. Despite isolated incidents, the ceasefire had largely held following the outbreak of war that began with a joint US and Israeli offensive on Iran on February 28.
According to Kuwaiti authorities, the assault on the airport was orchestrated by Iran. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards, however, pointed fingers at US forces, accusing them of initiating the conflict by striking a communications tower on Iran’s Qeshm Island, which they claim prompted their retaliatory response.
Meanwhile, Bahrain reported experiencing a similar drone attack overnight, allegedly from Iranian forces. In response, the United Arab Emirates has sought to galvanize its Gulf neighbors against Tehran’s actions.
“Given Iran’s repeated acts of aggression against the sisterly states of Kuwait and Bahrain, it is vital to adopt a unified and cohesive Gulf stance,” UAE presidential advisor Anwar Gargash communicated through social media.
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“This aggression does not just target one country, it targets us all.”
Kuwait’s ministry of defence spokesman brigadier general Saud Abdulaziz Al-Atwan described the airport strikes as “criminal Iranian aggression which resulted in significant material damage to the building and injuries”.
Al-Atwan did not say how many people were hurt but said those wounded had received medical care.
Kuwait’s state news agency Kuna said the civil aviation authority had suspended air traffic and transferred arriving flights to alternative airports after “Terminal One came under Iranian attacks causing casualties and damage”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards did not confirm they had targeted the airport.
But a statement said that, in response to a US attack “their air base and helicopters located in one of the countries in the region, as well as the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet, were attacked by missiles and drones from the IRGC Aerospace Force”.
Kuwait’s international airport was targeted several times during the war, and had only fully resumed operations on 1 June.
‘Broke apart’
The oil-rich Gulf nation, a US ally, has been on the receiving end of Iranian attacks after the US and Israel attacked Iran and killed its supreme leader in late February.
Tehran has repeatedly accused Kuwait and other Gulf countries of allowing US forces to launch strikes from their soil.
Earlier, the US military said it had “successfully defeated” a series of Iranian missile and drone attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain and confirmed it had conducted strikes on Iran’s 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 defence forces,” Centcom said.
Bahrain authorities said they had intercepted three Iranian missiles and a number of drones.
The escalation came after US, Israeli and Lebanese officials met in Washington for direct talks on ending the parallel conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the militant group was the only impediment to deal, which the Lebanese embassy in Washington said would at first only cover Israeli attacks on Beirut and Hezbollah attacks on Israeli territory, before expanding in scope.
Israel has been fighting Hezbollah since the group dragged Lebanon into the wider Middle East war by attacking Israel on 2 March in support of Iran.
Neither side has publicly accepted Trump’s deal, with senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qomati telling Agence France-Presse in a written statement the group “will not accept a partial ceasefire”.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported Israeli strikes, some of them deadly, on around 30 locations across the south on Tuesday.
Hezbollah meanwhile said it had attacked Israeli troops in southern Lebanese lands they occupy, but did not claim attacks in Israel.
According to US site Axios, however, Trump pressured Netanyahu to back down, calling him “f—–g crazy” in a phone call and accusing him of putting peace talks with Iran at risk.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz subsequently said that Israel had established “a new equation” backed by Washington that his country would hit the Beirut suburbs if Hezbollah continued firing at Israel.
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