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Iran fires missiles at Kuwait and Bahrain, U.S. strikes Iran facility

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Special Series Middle East conflict Conflict in the Middle East has been escalating. These stories provide context for current developments and the history that led up to them. By 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.
− Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP hide caption DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Kuwait briefly shut its main airport Wednesday after Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal, killed one person and wounded dozens — the latest in back-and-forth attacks by Iran and the U.S.
+ Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP hide caption DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — 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 test a fragile ceasefire.
− The strike reinforced the risks to residents and travelers in Gulf countries that had considered themselves relative havens before the war, now in its fourth month.
+ Politics House passes war powers resolution directing Trump to end hostilities with Iran The strike reinforced the risks to residents and travelers in Gulf countries that had considered themselves relative havens before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Iran denied causing the damage.
− Talks have dragged on for weeks as mediators seek a more enduring truce in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
+ Talks have dragged on for weeks 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 Lebanon. A regional official said Iran wanted a separate ceasefire in Lebanon enforced before returning to talks.
− U.S.
+ President Donald Trump said negotiations continue to extend the Iran ceasefire, even as the U.S.
− President Donald Trump said negotiations continue.
+ launched strikes against military sites on an Iranian island.
− The fighting in Lebanon has also exposed a rift between Israel and the U.S., which is pushing its ally for restraint.
+ "We've been hitting them pretty hard," Trump said when asked by reporters on Wednesday if the ceasefire remains in place.
+ "I'd say in that part of the world a ceasefire is when you're shooting in a more moderate manner." The fighting in Lebanon has 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 Benjamin Netanyahu "crazy" during a phone call earlier this week. Nonetheless, both men say their rapport is solid. Iran maintains its hold on the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial waterway for the world's oil and natural gas and related products like fertilizer — and the U.S. continues its blockade of Iranian ports. Global fuel prices remain high, and the effects of the conflict are felt well beyond the region. In Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he, Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio huddled for three hours at the White House Monday as Trump worked on "that final piece" of getting commerce flowing. Rubio, meanwhile, faced grilling in Congress over the war and its economic fallout. 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.
− Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit Burj al-Shamali village near the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday.
+ The Foreign Ministry said Kuwait will "neither accept nor tolerate" the attacks and was kicking out two Iranian diplomats.
− Mohammed Zaatari/AP hide caption 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. 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.
− Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged that it targeted the headquarters of the 5th Fleet and U.S.
+ The Revolutionary Guard acknowledged that it targeted the headquarters of the 5th Fleet and U.S.
− military facilities in another country, but did not name Kuwait.
+ military facilities in another country.
Both the U.S. and Iran said they were retaliating for earlier attacks or attempted ones.
− The U.S.
+ Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit Burj al-Shamali village near the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday.
− military also 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.
+ Mohammed Zaatari/AP hide caption Netanyahu told the American business-news channel CNBC that Iran was "playing with fire," but he said any decision about whether to scale up a military response would rest with Trump.
− strikes on the island, where it said a telecommunications tower was struck, and other previous strikes.
+ Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared on X that "any hostile act will be met with an immediate, decisive response." The U.S.
− It called them "acts of aggression" that it said violated the ceasefire.
+ military said it launched strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
+ Iran's Foreign Ministry said a telecommunications tower was struck. It called this attack, and others, "acts of aggression" that it said violated the ceasefire.
Israeli forces have moved deeper into Lebanon 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 confirmed a report that he had called Netanyahu "crazy" Monday in a phone conversation peppered with an expletive. Trump told The New York Post's "Pod Force One" 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 in an interview on the American business-news channel CNBC.
+ Still, Trump said his relationship with Netanyahu was good, and "we've worked very well together." Netanyahu responded on CNBC that he and Trump sometimes have "tactical disagreements" but have "common goals" and "agree on the main things." "We always find a way to work out our differences," the prime minister said.
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