The United States and Iran escalated their military confrontation with a new round of strikes, as Iranian drones damaged Kuwait's international airport and killed one person.
The attack on Kuwait's airport terminal occurred after the US military disabled an Iranian oil tanker in the strait of Hormuz. American forces fired a missile at the Botswana-flagged M/T Lexie on Tuesday after its crew ignored repeated warnings over 24 hours. The ship was heading toward Iran's Kharg Island when the strike disabled its engine.
In response, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps launched drones that struck a passenger terminal at Kuwait's international airport on Wednesday, wounding several people and forcing authorities to suspend air traffic. Kuwait's defense ministry described the attack as "criminal Iranian aggression which resulted in significant material damage to the building and injuries." Civil aviation authorities transferred arriving flights to alternative airports following the strikes.
The Iranian military claimed it attacked the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain with missiles and drones in retaliation for the strike on Qeshm Island, though US Central Command denied this claim. American forces said they shot down three Iranian attack drones launched toward civilian ships in regional waters and conducted strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island.
The IRGC stated that the US strike on an Iranian oil tanker damaged the vessel's engine room, calling the incident an example of "aggressive US military" action.
The latest exchange represents a significant setback to ceasefire negotiations. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed this week that a deal with Iran was within reach and that Tehran had agreed to discuss nuclear program aspects previously off the table. However, Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi signaled that Iran would suspend peace talks with the US to protest Israeli military operations in Lebanon, stating that "the ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon."
The situation has grown more complex with Lebanon's involvement. Despite Trump's announcement that he had stopped an imminent Israeli strike on Beirut and secured agreement from Israel and Hezbollah to end fighting, Israeli warplanes conducted 30 strikes across southern Lebanon on Tuesday alone. Rescuers recovered six bodies from one strike near Sidon, including two children.
The tanker strike marked the sixth ship disabled by US forces since April 13, when the military began its blockade of Iran. US forces have redirected 122 vessels attempting to enter or exit Iranian ports. Over the weekend, US forces had struck Iranian radar and drone sites, prompting Iran to target a military base in Kuwait it claimed was involved in the operation.