Gulf tensions flare as Iran hits Kuwait, US near Hormuz
Gulf hostilities reignited as Iranian attacks on Kuwait damaged the airport and injured dozens; The US military has carried out attacks near the Strait of Hormuz, and diplomacy to stop the war has shown little sign of progress.
The attacks were the latest to test a shaky ceasefire that has seen oil prices rise more than two percent as the strait remains largely closed more than three months after the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran.
Flights at Kuwait International Airport were suspended after an Iranian drone and missile attack damaged airport facilities and diplomatic missions, killing one person and injuring more than 60, Kuwaiti officials and state media said.
The civil aviation authority said Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airlines resumed flights after taking safety measures.
Earlier, Iranian media reported that Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards attacked the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, a US air base and a ship identified as Panaya. US Central Command denied that its bases were hit and said Iranian ballistic missiles failed to hit targets in the region.
CENTCOM said it carried out a new “defensive strike” in southern Iran, targeting missile launch sites and Iranian boats trying to lay mines, and launched attacks on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz following Iranian attack attempts.
Clashes have occasionally flared in recent weeks despite a ceasefire reached in early April as the United States attempts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a route that carried roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war.
Last week, Iran and the United States signaled progress toward an initial tentative agreement to end the war and reopen the strait, but the two sides have yet to sign the agreement, leaving more complex negotiations until later.
Mohsen Rezai, military advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iran will not allow the United States to “overreach” in negotiations or ceasefire arrangements. In a post on X, he warned that any attack would be met with missiles and drones.
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, said repeated attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain required a firm and consistent response from the Gulf.
“The attack targets not only one country, but all of us,” he wrote in his article to X.
Since mid-March, Trump has repeatedly said he is close to a deal that would end the conflict and pave the way for negotiations on thorny issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
Tehran made the agreement conditional on ending the conflict in Lebanon. It also wants access to billions of dollars of oil revenue, exemption from sanctions on crude oil exports, the lifting of the US blockade of its ports, and continued pressure on the strait.
Under pressure to reduce US fuel prices without making concessions to Iran, Trump said his top priority was to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.
Although Trump said negotiations were continuing, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Wednesday that Iran had not responded to the United States in recent days and that the exchange of messages through intermediaries had been suspended until Iran’s conditions regarding Lebanon were met.
In a podcast interview published Wednesday, Trump said Iran had agreed not to have nuclear weapons and that Khamenei was involved in the negotiations.
“They have already agreed that they will not have nuclear weapons,” he said.
The war has caused global economic pain by causing thousands of deaths, primarily in Iran and Lebanon, while severely disrupting energy supplies and other shipping.
Trump acknowledged in podcast comments that he called Israel’s Netanyahu “crazy” in an expletive-filled phone call about the conflict in Lebanon and sought a deal on a broader war.
“At one point I said Bibi, we’ve got to stop this. We’ve got to stop this,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
In an interview with CNBC, Netanyahu said he and Trump sometimes have “tactical disagreements” but agree on basic issues regarding Iran.
