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Kuwait said on Wednesday it had suspended commercial flights after an Iranian drone attack destroyed the country’s airport and caused injuries, hours after Iran and the United States traded missiles in the region.
The strikes came as Iranian media said the country had stopped communicating with mediators about extending the ceasefire with the US and Israel. US President Donald Trump denied that claim and said negotiations are ongoing.
Trade strikes in the Gulf region and Israel’s expanding war in Lebanon add to the difficulties in efforts to end the war with Iran.
Spokesman for the Ministry of Defense Brig. General Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi said “a number of rogue planes” targeted the passenger terminal at Kuwait International Airport, severely damaging the building and injuring “a number of people.”
The airport reopened on June 1 after being closed in February due to the Iran war. State media reported that Kuwait Airways is suspending its operations until further notice.
Late Tuesday, the U.S. military said it had launched strikes on an Iranian military base in retaliation for Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait and Bahrain. It said Iran fired two missiles at Kuwait that crashed on the way, while the US and Bahraini forces intercepted the missiles aimed at Bahrain.
Iran targets Bahrain
Bahrain’s Ministry of Defense said its forces intercepted and destroyed three missiles and dozens of aircraft fired at Iran on the Gulf island. US Central Command also said it had “taken down multiple drones” targeting US forces in Kuwait.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and another country in its attack, without naming Kuwait. It says that it started the attack in response to America firing a missile into the engine room of an oil tanker that was trying to reach Iran even though America was blocking it.
“We had previously warned that in the event of aggression, the response would be different and more severe, and we acted accordingly,” the security guard said in his statement.
The Central Command said it responded with strikes on an Iranian military base on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump said Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to cease firing on each other after the dispute became another irritant in peace talks with Iran. But neither Israel nor Hezbollah said they would lay down their arms for long.
Iran’s Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be close to the Guard, reported that Iran’s negotiators had stopped contact with ceasefire mediators as tensions flared in Israel’s separate but related war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
A regional official involved in the settlement, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, told The Associated Press that Iran had not communicated at all on Tuesday after saying a deal must be suspended in Lebanon for talks to continue.
“The conversations between us have been ongoing, 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 does not know, but as I told Iran, ‘It is time, one way or another, for you to make a deal.'”
As the talks continue, the US is trying to loosen the Islamic Republic’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz and the oil, gas and other supplies that often pass through it.
The war with Iran is increasingly intertwined with Israel’s war in Lebanon, as Iran insists that any potential ceasefire must end fighting in Lebanon.
Israeli forces have penetrated deeper into the country than at any time in more than a quarter of a century.
Trump may push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt or scale back his military advance, but Israel and the US say the war in Lebanon is separate from the Iran war talks.
