An Iranian drone strike ignited a fire in Kuwait City, while Bahrain said it shot down incoming drones, as Tehran targeted US allies across the Gulf early Wednesday after a night of American airstrikes that Iranian officials claim included a deadly attack on a wedding party.
The renewed violence shattered a monthlong pause in direct fighting between the US and Iran, deepening uncertainty over how to bring the conflict to an end. The war has already driven up oil prices, unsettled the global economy and created mounting political challenges for US President Trump’s Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections.
Tensions have climbed sharply since the weekend, when the US military struck Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz. American officials said the launchers were being prepared to fire mines into the critical waterway. Iran responded by launching missiles at US bases in Jordan, though all were intercepted.
US allies in the region fend off Iranian attacks
Iran also launched drones toward Kuwait late Tuesday, which were intercepted. A day earlier, the United Arab Emirates said it had intercepted an Iranian drone approaching over its waters.
Bahrain, home to a key US naval base, said its air defense systems intercepted incoming fire from Iran early Wednesday. In a statement, the Bahraini military accused Tehran of carrying out “attacks targeting civilians.”
Also on Wednesday, Kuwait’s government communications center said a fire broke out at a residential complex in the capital after it was hit by an Iranian drone at dawn. It said the blaze had been contained and there were no casualties.
Elsewhere in the region, in Iraq where Iranian-backed proxy forces are active, Kurdistan’s Counter-Terrorism Directorate said it had intercepted 10 drones laden with explosives in the Irbil area. Iranian television reported that American bases in Irbil had been targeted.
Israel’s military also said that Iran-backed Hezbollah fired two explosive drones at its soldiers in southern Lebanon but there were no casualties.
The US Central Command said Tuesday’s strikes focused on Iranian military targets including air defense sites, radar systems and maritime assets.
Casualties in Iran include people at a wedding party
One US strike hit a home hosting a wedding, according to Iranian media. At least five people were killed, including a child, and at least 68 were wounded, Iranian officials said.
Images from Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency showed several hospitalized children being treated for injuries.
Footage from the Iranian Red Crescent showed rescue workers entering a damaged home in the wake of the strike, with debris scattered all around. It showed a hole in the roof of one house in a neighborhood of densely packed homes.
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“Make no mistake: these crimes will not go unpunished,” Ebrahim Azizi, chairperson of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on X.
The US military said it was aware of the report but that it “never targets civilians.”
The Strait of Hormuz remains largely shut down
During last month’s lull in fighting, the US ramped up economic pressure on Iran, which is suffering from soaring inflation, negative growth and a collapsing currency, as Washington sought to win concessions to fully open the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping traffic.
About a fifth of the world’s traded oil was shipped through the key waterway before Israel and the US attacked Iran on Feb. 28 and Iran largely shut it down. Despite many pronouncements from Washington that the strait is open, only a handful of ships are making the passage each day and Iran has regularly attacked vessels.
On Wednesday, Saudi shipping company Bahri said two Filipino sailors were killed in an attack late Monday as their vessel transited the strait.
Since the fighting resumed, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed above $95, up more than 30% from the start of the war.
In launching its latest attacks, US Central Command said it was responding to Tehran trying to hit commercial ships and American forces in the Middle East.
Trump offered an additional explanation, telling Fox News in a phone call that US forces struck radar systems that Iran had been trying to rebuild.
“We waited until it was almost built and then we hit it,” he said.
Late Tuesday, Trump said he would not force Iran to the bargaining table.
“I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement. I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?” Trump wrote on social media.
Earlier, Trump had appeared to pivot toward trying to bend Iran to his will through economic sanctions. He warned that if Iran retaliated for the new strikes, “they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level.”
