Iran attacks Kuwait, trades strikes U.S. in test to ceasefire

Iran launched a deadly new set of attacks in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday as it traded strikes with the United States, the latest exchange to threaten the fragile ceasefire and stalled peace talks between the two countries.

One person was killed and flights were suspended in Kuwait, officials said, after missile and drone strikes including an attack on its international airport. The U.S. military said it shot down Iranian drones near the Strait of Hormuz and struck Iran’s Qeshm Island a day earlier.

Repeated military exchanges between Washington and Tehran, as well as Israel’s escalating campaign in Lebanon, have added strain to efforts to end the war and reopen the crucial trade route. The two sides offered mixed messages on the status of talks, with President Donald Trump insisting they were ongoing after Iran signaled it may walk away.

The latest flare up saw Kuwait report early Wednesday that one person had been killed and others injured in an Iranian drone attack.

The attack caused significant damage to the airport’s Terminal 1, said Ministry of Defense spokesman Col. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Atwan. Kuwait’s civil aviation authority said all air traffic was suspended as a result, though it later partially resumed.

Videos showed debris and fire on the ground in Kuwait after an inceptor missile was reported to have fallen.

Debris burns in Kuwait following reports that air defences intercepted missile and drone attacks — Debris burns on the ground in a parking lot following reports of missile and drone attacks, in Sabah Al Nasser, Kuwait on Wednesday, in a video posted to social media.via Reuters

U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, said late Tuesday that Iran had launched several ballistic missiles toward regional neighbors, though it said all of the attacks had “failed to hit their intended targets.”

Two missiles fired at Kuwait had fallen short or broke apart enroute, while three missiles launched at Bahrain were immediately intercepted by U.S. and Bahrain air defense forces, it said in a post on X. CENTCOM said its forces also shot down “three one-way attack drones launched by Iran toward civilian mariners that were rightfully transiting regional waters.”

It said American forces had also conducted what it described as “self-defense strikes” on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island.

CENTCOM announced earlier that it had also disabled a Botswana-flagged tanker as it headed toward Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil terminal, saying in a post on X that the ship’s crew “ignored repeated warnings, failing to comply with directions from U.S. forces multiple times over a 24-hour period.”

It said a U.S. aircraft ultimately disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room, blocking the tanker from reaching Iran, with the post noting that the U.S. military has has “disabled six commercial vessels and redirected 122” since a blockade against Iran’s ports was launched April 13.

Iran’s foreign ministry on Wednesday said it “strongly condemns the aggressive act of the US terrorist army in attacking an Iranian tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and attacking a telecommunications mast on Qeshm Island.” It said the attacks represented a violation of the shaky ceasefire agreement between the two countries as they look to negotiate a broader deal.

A satellite view of Qeshm Island in Hormozgan Province, Iran, within the Strait of Hormuz region on January 17, 2026. — Satellite imagery of Qeshm Island in Hormozgan Province, Iran.Gallo Images via Getty Images

With talks in flux, Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz — a vital trade route through which some 20% of the world’s oil passes — has throttled global energy supplies since the U.S. and Israel launched the war in late February.

Oil prices rose overnight, with the international benchmark Brent Crude up around.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military launched new strikes in Lebanon on Wednesday as it traded occasional attacks with Iran-backed Hezbollah despite Trump announcing both sides had agreed to de-escalate.

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit Qlaileh village, as seen from the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, on Tuesday.Mohammed Zaatari / AP

That intervention came after Tehran threatened to pull out of peace talks over Israel’s attacks in Lebanon.

Trump held a tense call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a U.S. official familiar with the call and another source familiar with the call told NBC News.

The source familiar with the call said there were two conversations between Trump and Netanyahu on Monday. One of the calls was described by the U.S. official and the source familiar with the call as not pleasant.

Those tensions between the close allies come as Netanyahu faces domestic pressure to keep striking Hezbollah as he prepares for new elections this fall.

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