Kuwait has released surveillance footage confirming that an Iranian drone strike struck Terminal 1 of Kuwait International Airport on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring more than 60 others. The attack caused significant damage to the passenger terminal and also affected diplomatic mission buildings in the country. Kuwait's defence ministry described the strike as "criminal Iranian aggression," while the foreign ministry summoned Iran's chargé d'affaires and delivered a formal protest note. Two Iranian diplomats were declared persona non grata and ordered to leave Kuwait within 24 hours.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for the broader operation — which included missile and drone strikes on both Kuwait and Bahrain — describing it as retaliation for US strikes on an Iranian oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and a communications tower on Qeshm Island. However, the IRGC denied directly targeting Kuwait International Airport, instead attributing the damage to a malfunctioning American-made Patriot missile. US Central Command (CENTCOM) flatly rejected that account, stating that Iran had struck a civilian airport with drones in what it called a "deliberate, calculated and unjustified attack." CENTCOM added that it had intercepted two Iranian missiles aimed at Kuwait and three directed at Bahrain, where the US Fifth Fleet is based, with no American assets or personnel reported damaged.
The sole fatality was identified as an Indian national, prompting condemnation from India's foreign ministry, which noted that several other Indian citizens were also among the wounded. Kuwait's health ministry declared a full medical alert, confirming 63 casualties and seven major emergency surgeries. Flights at Kuwait International Airport were briefly suspended before civil aviation authorities resumed operations following a damage assessment.
Analysts note that Wednesday's strike was reportedly the seventh time the airport has been targeted since the conflict between the United States and Iran escalated in February. The attack comes amid a fragile and unresolved standoff: the Strait of Hormuz has been largely closed for more than three months, oil prices climbed more than two percent following the strikes and approached the hundred-dollar-per-barrel mark, and US-Iran negotiations remain stalled over issues including Lebanon. Regional experts warn that the pattern of strikes against civilian infrastructure raises the risk of miscalculation drawing the Gulf into a wider war that no party says it wants.
Arab governments responded sharply, with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Egypt condemning what they called Iran's "savage aggression" against Kuwaiti and Bahraini sovereignty. The UAE labelled the strikes a violation of international law, and the Gulf Cooperation Council's secretary-general said the attacks reflected Iran's "insistence on hostile policies" targeting Gulf stability. Kuwait, which has historically maintained a back-channel relationship with Tehran and played a mediating role in the region, now faces pressure to calibrate its response — balancing diplomatic firmness against the risk of being drawn directly into a conflict it did not choose.