Kuwait’s international airport has sustained heavy damage after an Iranian drone strike struck the main passenger terminal in the early hours of Wednesday, killing one person and injuring several others, as a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran continues to deteriorate across the region.
Kuwaiti air defences intercepted multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drone waves during the attack, but at least one strike got through, causing severe structural damage to terminal one and forcing an immediate suspension of all commercial flights. Incoming traffic was diverted to alternative regional hubs, though Kuwait Airways later managed to resume limited operations from a separate, unaffected terminal.
Brigadier General Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, speaking for the defence ministry, condemned what he called a criminal act of aggression against vital civilian infrastructure. Kuwait’s foreign ministry followed with a strongly worded statement, describing the strikes as a flagrant violation of international law, the United Nations Charter, and UN Security Council Resolution 2817. The ministry stressed that Kuwait’s security and sovereignty represent a “red line” – and that the country reserves its full right to respond.
The strike on Kuwait forms part of a broader regional escalation. Hostilities reportedly intensified after US forces disabled a Botswana-flagged oil tanker, the M/T Lexie, that was attempting to circumvent an American naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded with coordinated missile and drone attacks targeting US military positions and regional partners – including the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.
Defensive systems there intercepted three missiles and several drones. The US military subsequently struck an Iranian ground control station on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.US Central Command confirmed that American assets downed multiple drones targeting US personnel in Kuwait, and that two Iranian ballistic missiles fired at the country broke apart before reaching their targets.
