Kuwait announced on Wednesday that it has halted commercial flights following a significant Iranian drone attack that severely damaged the nation’s airport and resulted in injuries. This incident occurred shortly after a series of missile exchanges between Iran and the United States in the region.
The escalation followed reports from Iranian semi-official news outlets indicating that Iran had ceased communications with mediators concerning the extension of a ceasefire involving the US and Israel. However, US President Donald Trump contested these reports, asserting that discussions were still underway.
Amidst these tensions, the ongoing missile exchanges in the Gulf and Israel’s expanding conflict in Lebanon are further complicating efforts to resolve the conflict with Iran.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, stated that “a number of hostile drones” had struck the passenger terminal at Kuwait International Airport, resulting in significant damage and injuries to “several individuals.”
Iranian drone strike hits Kuwait’s main airport
The airport had only reopened on June 1, following a closure in February due to the conflict with Iran. According to state media, Kuwait Airways has now suspended its operations indefinitely.
The airport reopened on June 1 after closing in February due to the Iran war. State media reported that Kuwait Airways was suspending its operations until further notice.
Late Tuesday, the US military said it had launched strikes on an Iranian military facility in retaliation for Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait and Bahrain. It said Iran had fired two missiles at Kuwait that fell apart en route, while US and Bahraini forces intercepted missiles aimed at Bahrain.
Bahrain’s Defense Ministry said its military had intercepted and destroyed three missiles and a number of drones fired by Iran at the Gulf island country. US Central Command also said it had “downed multiple drones” targeting American forces in Kuwait.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain and another country in its attack, without naming Kuwait. It said it launched its attack in response to the US firing a missile into the engine room of an oil tanker that was trying to reach Iran despite the US blockade.
“We had previously warned that in case of aggression, the response would be different and more severe, and we acted accordingly,” the Guard said in its statement.
Central Command said it responded with strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian news agencies report pause in communication with mediators
Iran’s Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be close to the Guard, reported that Iran’s negotiators have stopped communicating with ceasefire mediators as tensions flared in Israel’s separate but related fight against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
A regional official involved in the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, told The Associated Press that Iran had not communicated at all on Tuesday after saying that a ceasefire needed to be enforced in Lebanon for negotiations to continue.
Trump called reports of a cessation in talks “false and erroneous.”
“The conversations between us have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago and today,” Trump said in a social media post. “Where they lead, one never knows, but as I told Iran, ’It’s time, one way or another, for you to make a Deal.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not address the reported cutoff in communications as he testified at a congressional hearing in Washington. Instead, he sounded an optimistic note about the nuclear dimension of the negotiations, while cautioning that there’s no guarantee of reaching “a deal that’s acceptable.”
As talks continue, the US is attempting to loosen the Islamic Republic’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz and the oil, gas and other commodities that normally pass through it.
The war with Iran is increasingly tied to Israel’s war in Lebanon
The war with Iran has increasingly become conjoined to Israel’s war in Lebanon, as Iran insists that any potential truce in the war there must also quell the fighting in Lebanon.
Israeli forces have moved deeper into the country than at any time in over a quarter of a century.
Trump could potentially push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt or slow the advance of his forces, but Israel and the US maintain that the fighting in Lebanon is separate from the Iran war talks.
