By JON GAMBRELL and SAMY MAGDY
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Kuwait said Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at its main airport Wednesday, killing one person, wounding dozens and briefly closing the airfield — the latest in back-and-forth attacks by Iran and the U.S. that .
The strike reinforced the risks to residents and travelers in Gulf countries that had considered themselves relative havens before the U.S.-Israeli . Iran denied causing the damage.
as mediators seek a more enduring truce in the war, now in its fourth month. They are increasingly strained by Israel’s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in .
A regional official said Iran wanted a enforced before returning to talks. U.S. President said negotiations continue.
The fighting in Lebanon has also exposed a rift between Israel and the U.S., which is pushing its ally for restraint. In a measure of the friction, Trump acknowledged that he’d called Israeli Prime Minister “crazy” during a phone call earlier this week. Nonetheless, both men say their rapport is solid.
Iran maintains its hold on the — a crucial waterway for the world’s oil and natural gas and related products like — and the U.S. continues its blockade of Iranian ports. Global fuel prices remain high, and the are felt well beyond the region.
In Washington, House Speaker said he, Trump, Vice President , and Secretary of State huddled for three hours at the White House Monday as Trump worked on “that final piece” of getting commerce flowing. Rubio, meanwhile, over the war and its economic fallout.
An Indian national is killed at Kuwait’s main airport
A spokesperson for Kuwait’s Defense Ministry, Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, said “a number of hostile drones” targeted a passenger building at Kuwait International Airport. It had opened only Monday after a months-long closure because of the war, which began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it didn’t fire at the airport, instead claiming via state broadcaster IRIB that the terminal was damaged by a U.S.-made interceptor that failed to hit Iranian missiles. U.S. Central Command called the claim false and said on X that Iranian drones made a “deliberate, calculated and unjustified attack” on the airport. Neither side provided further information.
India’s embassy said the person killed was an Indian national. Authorities said 63 were wounded, including passengers and workers, and some suffered serious injuries.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed over a dozen missiles and a similar number of drones from Iran.
The airport partially reopened later, with Kuwait Airways flights resuming at a different terminal, according to civil aviation authorities. No other flights were operating.
The Foreign Ministry said Kuwait will “neither accept nor tolerate” the attacks and was kicking out two Iranian diplomats. Such expulsions are an established means of communicating international ire.
US and Iran say they are retaliating for earlier attacks
The U.S. military said two Iranian missiles fell apart en route to Kuwait and that it “downed multiple drones” targeting American forces in the country.
The military also said U.S. and Bahraini forces intercepted missiles aimed at the Gulf kingdom, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th fleet. Bahrain’s Defense Ministry said its military intercepted and destroyed three missiles and a number of drones fired by Iran.
The Revolutionary Guard acknowledged that it targeted the headquarters of the 5th Fleet and U.S. military facilities in another country.
Both the U.S. and Iran said they were retaliating for earlier attacks or attempted ones.
ٲԲⲹ that Iran was “playing with fire,” but he said any decision about whether to scale up a military response would rest with Trump. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared on X that “any hostile act will be met with an immediate, decisive response.”
The U.S. military said it launched strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S. strikes on the island, where it said a telecommunications tower was struck, and other previous strikes. It called them “acts of aggression” that it said violated the ceasefire.
The war is increasingly tied to Israel’s fight in Lebanon
Israeli forces have moved than at any time in over a quarter-century, while Hezbollah has launched rocket and drone attacks. The declared ceasefire in Lebanon is officially in place, and no side has formally withdrawn or declared it over even as attacks continue.
Iran insists that any larger potential truce must quell the fighting in Lebanon. Netanyahu wants to keep the issues separate and is under domestic pressure to strike Hezbollah as he prepares for elections this fall.
In a podcast interview released Wednesday, Trump that he had called Netanyahu “crazy” Monday in a phone conversation peppered with an expletive. Trump that he was “a little bit perturbed” that Israel’s fight with Hezbollah was holding back talks with Iran.
Still, Trump said his relationship with Netanyahu was good, and “we’ve worked very well together.”
Netanyahu responded that he and Trump sometimes have “tactical disagreements” but have “common goals” and “agree on the main things.”
“He respects me. I respect him. We always find a way to work out our differences,” the prime minister said on CNBC.
Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi, Sam Mednick in Jerusalem, Jennifer Peltz in New York and Lisa Mascaro and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.
