Kuwait said on Wednesday it had suspended commercial flights after an Iranian drone attack heavily damaged the country’s airport and caused injuries, hours after Iran and the United States traded missile strikes in the region.
The strikes came as semiofficial Iranian news agencies said the country had stopped communicating with mediators about extending a ceasefire in the war with the US and Israel. US President Donald Trump disputed that claim and said talks were continuing.
Exchanges of strikes in the Gulf region and Israel’s broadening war in Lebanon are adding strain to efforts to end the war with Iran.
Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi said that “a number of hostile drones” had targeted Kuwait International Airport’s passenger building, severely damaging the building and injuring “a number of individuals.”
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.
