Iran And U.S. Trade Strikes In Persian Gulf, Ceasefire Tested

Kuwait airport – Kuwait briefly shut its main airport after Iranian drones heavily damaged the passenger building and killed one person, while the U.S. said it downed multiple drones and launched strikes on an Iranian ground control station on Qeshm Island. The escalation come

For the third day in a row, the Persian Gulf didn’t feel like a boundary. It felt like a pressure point.

Wednesday. Kuwait briefly shut Kuwait International Airport after Iranian drones hit the passenger building. severely damaging it and killing at least one person. according to the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry. Kuwait’s Defense Ministry spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi. said “a number of hostile drones” targeted the airport and that they injured “a number of individuals.” Later. Kuwait’s civil aviation authorities said the airport partially reopened and Kuwait Airways resumed flights from a different terminal from the one that was hit—while stating no other flights would be operating.

The rhythm of closures and damage has become familiar in the war’s wider echo. The airport had only reopened Monday after closing early in the war.

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. It 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.

Hours later, the U.S. 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.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged that it targeted the headquarters of the 5th Fleet and U.S. military facilities in another country, though it did not name Kuwait. It said the strikes were in retaliation for attacks on Qeshm Island.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S. strikes on Qeshm Island, saying a telecommunications tower was struck and that the strikes—along with other previous attacks—violated the ceasefire. It called them “acts of aggression.”

Anwar Gargash, a senior Emirati diplomat, urged a “firm, unified, and cohesive Gulf position” against Iran following the attacks. “This aggression does not target a specific state, but rather all of us,” Gargash wrote on the X platform.

While the strikes landed far from Washington and Tehran’s negotiating tables, the talks themselves appeared to be fraying.

Iranian news agencies Fars and Tasnim—both believed to be close to the Revolutionary Guard—reported that Iran’s negotiators had stopped communicating with ceasefire mediators as tensions flared in Israel’s separate but related fight against Hezbollah 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 a ceasefire needed to be enforced in Lebanon for negotiations to continue.

President Donald Trump rejected the idea that the process had stopped. He called reports of a cessation in talks “false and erroneous. ” saying in a social media post that “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 added. “Where they lead. one never knows. but as I told Iran. ‘It’s time. one way or another. for you to make a Deal.’”.

The negotiating snag is tangled with a battlefield that has drawn closer to the U.S. and Israel’s politics: Lebanon.

Israeli forces have moved deeper into Lebanon than at any time in over a quarter of a century. even though there is a nominal ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon has become a key sticking point in Trump’s efforts to sign a ceasefire deal with Iran. Iran insists that any larger potential truce must also quell fighting in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. meanwhile. wants to keep the issues separate. even as he faces heavy domestic pressure to strike Hezbollah as he prepares for new elections this fall.

The strain is not only military—it is political.

A person familiar with the situation said Netanyahu and Trump had a “tense” conversation earlier this week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media, and did not elaborate on the call.

All of it plays out against the strategic backdrop both sides have sustained: Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz. a crucial artery for the world’s oil and natural gas. while the U.S. has continued its blockade of Iranian ports—part of a pressure campaign designed to keep global fuel prices high and ensure the conflict’s effects are felt well beyond the region.

By Wednesday evening, Kuwait was still counting the cost at its airport—damaged infrastructure, injuries, a death—while the U.S. and Iran traded actions they each described as defensive and retaliatory.

The ceasefire, already fragile and contested over Lebanon’s future, continued to be tested in the place where negotiations can be undone in minutes: the airspace over the Gulf and the signals between mediators and negotiators.

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