Kuwait briefly closed the country’s main airport on Wednesday after Iranian drones heavily damaged a building, killing one person and injuring dozens – the latest salvo in a series of attacks by Iran and the United States that have tested the fragile ceasefire.
The strikes came as Iranian media said the country had stopped communicating with mediators about extending the ceasefire with the US and Israel. The regional official said that Tehran wants to strengthen the agreement in Lebanon before returning to the talks. US President Donald Trump said that negotiations are ongoing.
Negotiations have dragged on for weeks, and repeated strikes in the Gulf region and Israel’s expanding war in Lebanon are pushing efforts forward.
All this time, Iran has been involved in the Strait of Hormuz – an important artery of oil and natural gas in the world – and the US has continued to block Iranian ports, ensuring that the prices of fuel around the world remain high and the effects of the conflict are felt outside the region.
Iranian drones hit Kuwait airport
Spokesman for the Ministry of Defense Brig. General Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi said “a number of hostile drones” targeted the passenger terminal at Kuwait International Airport.
Authorities say one person died and 63 were injured, including passengers and crew. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, Abdullah Al Sanad, said that others were seriously injured.
The Foreign Ministry said Kuwait has the right to respond to Iran and that it “will not accept or tolerate” attacks.
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The airport reopened later in the day, according to aviation authorities, with Kuwait Airways flights resuming from a different destination than the one that was hit. No other flights will operate, they said. The airport reopened on Monday after being closed at the beginning of the war.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said Iran had fired two missiles at Kuwait that crashed on the way, and that it “downed several drones” targeting U.S. forces in the country.
The military also said the US and Bahraini forces intercepted missiles aimed at the Gulf kingdom, which is home to the US Navy’s fifth fleet. Bahrain’s Ministry of Defense said its forces intercepted and destroyed three missiles and a number of drones fired by Iran.
The US military said it launched an attack on an Iranian military base on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard admitted it had targeted the headquarters of the 5th Fleet and US military bases in another country, but did not name Kuwait.
Both the US and Iran say they were retaliating for a previous attack or attack.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the US strikes on Qeshm Island, where it said a communications tower was hit, and other previous strikes. It called them “acts of violence” that violated the ceasefire agreement.
An Emirati embassy official on Wednesday called for a “strong, unified and united Gulf position” against Iran following the attack.
“This violence is not specific to a specific situation, but to all of us,” wrote Anwar Gargash on the X platform.
Iranian agencies report that there has been a pause in the talks
Iran’s Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be close to the Guardian, reported that Iran’s negotiators had stopped communicating with ceasefire mediators as tensions flared in Israel’s separate but linked war with the Iran-based Hezbollah terrorist group 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.
Trump called reports of the talks stalling “false and erroneous.”
“The conversations between us have been ongoing, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago and today,” Trump said on social media. “Where they lead, one doesn’t know, but as I told Iran, ‘It’s time, one way or another, for you to make a deal.'”
Israel’s war in Lebanon
Despite repeated outbreaks of violence, the cease-fire in Lebanon is officially in effect. Neither side has formally withdrawn or declared an end, but the attack continues. Israeli forces have moved deeper into Lebanon than at any time in more than a quarter of a century since Hezbollah began its rocket and drone attacks.
As the attacks continue, Lebanon has emerged as a key point in Trump’s efforts to sign a deal to end hostilities with Iran.
Tehran insists that any major agreement on the war there must end the war in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to keep the issues separate and is under intense domestic pressure to crack down on Hezbollah as he prepares for new elections this fall.
The war has exposed tensions between those close to Israel and the US, with the US pushing for restraint and Israel seeking to intensify military pressure on Hezbollah.
A person familiar with the situation said Netanyahu and Trump had a “tense” conversation earlier this week. This person spoke and asked that his name be withheld because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The person did not provide phone details.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
