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Iran fires missiles at Kuwait and Bahrain, U.S. strikes Iran facility
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The Associated Press
People gather on paddleboards in shallow water as cargo and service vessels are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, June 1, 2026.
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− Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP hide caption
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. military said Tuesday that Iran fired missiles at Kuwait and Bahrain that failed or were shot down, and that the U.S. launched strikes on an Iranian facility in response.
+ Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP hide caption
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Kuwait briefly shut the country's main airport Wednesday after Iranian drones heavily damaged it and killed one person — the latest salvo in a series of back-and-forth attacks by Tehran and Washington that have tested a fragile ceasefire.
− Iran fired missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain, but failed to hit their targets, the U.S.
+ The strikes came as semiofficial Iranian news agencies said the country had stopped communicating with mediators about extending a ceasefire in the war with the U.S.
− said.
+ and Israel.
− The two fired at Kuwait fell apart en route, while U.S.
+ A regional official said Tehran wanted the truce in Lebanon enforced before returning to talks.
− and Bahraini forces intercepted the missiles aimed at Bahrain.
− Central Command said it responded with strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
+ President Donald Trump said negotiations were continuing.
− Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the headquarters of the U.S.
+ Those talks have dragged on for weeks, and repeated exchanges of strikes in the Gulf region and Israel's broadening war in Lebanon are further straining the efforts.
All the while, Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial artery for the world's oil and natural gas — and the U.S.
− Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain and another country in its attack, without naming Kuwait.
+ has continued its blockade of Iranian ports, ensuring that global fuel prices remain high and the effects of the conflict are felt well beyond the region.
Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig.
− It said it launched its attack in response to the U.S.
+ Gen.
− firing a missile into the engine room of another oil tanker trying to reach Iran despite the U.S. blockade.
+ Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi said that "a number of hostile drones" had targeted Kuwait International Airport's passenger building, severely damaging the building and injuring "a number of individuals."
Later, Kuwait's Foreign Ministry said at least one person had been killed.
− "We had previously warned that in case of aggression, the response would be different and more severe, and we acted accordingly," the Guard said in its statement.
Central Command also said it "downed multiple drones" launched by Iran targeting American forces in Kuwait.
The attacks happened after Iran stopped communicating with mediators about extending a ceasefire in the war with the U.S.
+ State media reported that Kuwait Airways suspended operations.
− and Israel, according to reports Tuesday from two semiofficial Iranian news agencies.
+ Civil aviation authorities said that the airport partially reopened later in the day, with Kuwait Airways flights resuming from a different terminal from the one that was hit.
− President Donald Trump disputed the claim and said talks were continuing.
+ No other flights would be operating, they said.
− The reports by the Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be close to the Guard, came as tensions flared in Israel's separate-but-related fight against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon.
+ The airport only reopened Monday after closing early in the war.
− A regional official involved in the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, told The Associated Press that Iran had not communicated at all on Tuesday after saying that a ceasefire needed to be enforced in Lebanon for negotiations to continue.
+ The U.S. military said Iran fired two missiles at Kuwait that fell apart en route, and that it had "downed multiple drones" targeting American forces in the country.
− Trump called reports of a cessation in talks "false and erroneous."
"The conversations between us have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago and today," Trump said in a social media post.
+ The military also said U.S.
− "Where they lead, one never knows, but as I told Iran, 'It's time, one way or another, for you to make a Deal."
U.S.
+ and Bahraini forces intercepted missiles aimed at the Gulf kingdom, which is home to the U.S Navy's 5th fleet.
− Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not address the reported cutoff in communications as he testified at a congressional hearing in Washington. Instead, he sounded an optimistic note about the nuclear dimension of the negotiations, while cautioning that there's no guarantee of reaching "a deal that's acceptable."
Iran has been trying to increase pressure on Trump over negotiations on the Iran war ceasefire and loosening the Islamic Republic's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz and the oil, gas and other commodities that normally pass through it. Trump then could potentially push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt or slow the advance of his forces, which have moved deeper into Lebanon than at any time in over a quarter of a century.
+ Bahrain's Defense Ministry said its military intercepted and destroyed three missiles and a number of drones fired by Iran.
− The conflicts have increasingly become conjoined, as Iran insists that any potential truce in the war there must also quell the fighting in Lebanon.
Israel and the U.S.
+ The U.S.
− maintain the fighting in Lebanon is separate from the Iran war talks.
+ military said it launched strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz in response to the attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait.
− Meanwhile, year-on-year inflation in Iran reached a level in May unseen since World War II, underlining the economic pain average Iranians are facing.
+ Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged that it targeted the headquarters of the 5th Fleet and U.S.
− While the U.S.
+ military facilities in another country, but did not name Kuwait.
− is eager to ease the Islamic Republic's grip on the strait — through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed in peacetime — Iran faces economic challenges as its oil-backed economy remains under a U.S. naval blockade.
+ It said the strikes were in retaliation for attacks on Qeshm Island.
− Economic pressure touched off nationwide protests in Iran in 2017 into 2018, when rising food prices sparked demonstrations that killed over 20 people and saw hundreds arrested.
+ Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S.
− The next year, an increase in government-subsidized gasoline prices caused protests that saw over 300 people reportedly killed.
Then came the protests over the collapsing value of Iran's currency, the rial, at the start of this year.
+ strikes on Qeshm Island, where it said a telecommunications tower was struck, and other previous strikes.
− They were the most intense demonstrations to shake the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution and the chaotic years that followed. Iran's theocracy met January's protests with a crackdown on demonstrators in January that killed over 7,000 people, according to activists' estimates.
+ It called them "acts of aggression" that it said violated the ceasefire.
− Now, even as hard-liners hold gun-handling workshops and organize marriages under the shadow of a ballistic missile to bolster spirits, experts note there could be new demonstrations if people find themselves priced out of feeding their families.
+ A senior Emirati diplomat called on Wednesday for "a firm, unified, and cohesive Gulf position" against Iran following the attacks.
− "I have no doubt that if Trump leaves (Iran without a formal peace deal) ...
+ "This aggression does not target a specific state, but rather all of us," Anwar Gargash wrote on the X platform.
Iran's Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be close to the Guard, reported that Iran's negotiators have stopped communicating with ceasefire mediators as tensions flared in Israel's separate but related fight against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.
A regional official involved in the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, told The Associated Press that Iran had not communicated at all on Tuesday after saying that a ceasefire needed to be enforced in Lebanon for negotiations to continue.
Trump called reports of a cessation in talks "false and erroneous."
"The conversations between us have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago and today," Trump said in a social media post.
− most probably, we will see something like January by the end of summer because of the economic and social situations," analyst Mohsen Jalilvand said in a video published by Iran's Fararu news website.
+ "Where they lead, one never knows, but as I told Iran, 'It's time, one way or another, for you to make a Deal."
Israeli forces have moved deeper into Lebanon than at any time in over a quarter of a century — despite a nominal ceasefire in place between Israel and Hezbollah.
− Iran's Central Bank said the consumer price index, which measures a basket of goods and services, reached 77.2% in May compared with the year before.
+ Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit Burj al-Shamali village near the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026.
− The rate is 8.5% higher than in April, the bank added. Inflation in daily and general needs — like medicine, taxi fares, tobacco and communication fees — rose 113.8% from the year before.
+ Mohammed Zaatari/AP Photo hide caption
Lebanon has emerged as a key sticking point in Trump's efforts to sign a ceasefire deal with Iran.
− People carry packages at Tehran's historic Grand Bazaar, Iran, Monday, June 1, 2026.
+ Tehran insists that any larger potential truce in the war there must also quell the fighting in Lebanon.
− Vahid Salemi/AP hide caption
A private economic think tank in Iran, the Bamdad Institute of Economic Studies, described the current figures as "an unprecedented rate since World War II." Iran's Central Bank did not acknowledge the significance of the figures.
+ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to keep the issues separate and is under heavy domestic pressure to strike Hezbollah as he prepares for new elections this fall.
− The previous record came in 1942.
+ The fighting has exposed a rift between close allies Israel and the U.S., with the U.S.
− During the war, the British and Soviets invaded Iran and took over its railway, disrupting food supplies. The lack of food, worsened by a poor harvest, sparked hyperinflation and a famine. Hunger and a typhus outbreak killed many.
+ pushing for restraint and Israel seeking to step up the military pressure on Hezbollah.
− Airstrikes this year have greatly damaged Iran's businesses and its oil industry, Meanwhile, the U.S.
+ A person familiar with the situation said Netanyahu and Trump had a "tense" conversation earlier this week.
− blockade has been targeting Iranian crude oil shipments trying to reach the international market, a key source of hard revenue.
+ The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media.
− Tax revenues have been depressed by businesses struggling even after the fighting paused.
+ The person didn't elaborate on the details of the call.
− The rial, which traded at 32,000 to $1 in 2015, now trades at over 1.7 million to $1.
"We will definitely have higher prices," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned in May. "We are fighting, and we must accept this hardship."
Tehran-based economist Saeed Leilaz, speaking to the AP, warned that annual inflation in Iran could reach 80%.
"Iran's society cannot tolerate above 25%" annual inflation, he said.