Clashes in the Gulf region have escalated, with diplomacy showing little progress, as Bahrain and Kuwait report attacks by Iran after the US military strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island.

According to Kuwait’s state news agency KUNA, the country’s international airport was hit by drones and missiles on Wednesday morning, causing severe damage to a number of airport facilities and forcing the airport’s activity to be frozen.

Kuwait’s foreign ministry said Iranian attacks on its territory killed one person and injured scores of others, as well as forcing its airport to close and damaging unnamed diplomatic missions.

Kuwait said later on Wednesday that flights for its flagship airline had resumed.

“The General Authority of Civil Aviation announced on Wednesday the resumption of all Kuwait Airways flights only, from Kuwait International Airport,” it said in a statement.

India’s foreign ministry condemned the attack, confirming that the killed person was an Indian national.

“We condemn the attack on the Kuwait International Airport today in which an Indian national has died and several of our nationals are injured,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “We again call upon parties to cease such attacks,” it added.

At least 63 people were injured in Iran’s attack, including airport workers and passengers, the country’s health ministry said in a separate statement.

Dozens of projectiles detected

Kuwait’s defence ministry said it had detected 30 ballistic missiles and drones launched by Iran.

“These missiles were intercepted over several residential areas, resulting in some debris falling. […] This heinous Iranian aggression targeted civilian and vital facilities,” defence ministry spokesman Saud Abdulaziz al-Atwan said.

Following the attack, the foreign ministry summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires in Kuwait, Hamed Hamid Yaqoubi Far, and handed him a protest note that included the demand that two Iranian embassy staff leave the country within 24 hours.

Since the conflict began in late February, Iran has repeatedly attacked targets in the Gulf region where US military bases are located.

In a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it had struck the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and an airbase in the region in response to the strike on Qeshm Island – a claim denied by US Central Command (CENTCOM).

Qeshm Island is located in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping channel for oil and gas produced in the Gulf region, which has been effectively closed by Tehran since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran in late February.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that Iran has agreed to not have a nuclear weapon and that Iran’s Ayatollah is involved in negotiations with the United States.

“They’ve already agreed they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told an interview on the “Pod Force One” podcast on Wednesday, addressing one of the key disagreements in the talks with Iran.

Tehran slams Bahrain and Kuwait

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned on Wednesday what it described as US attacks on an Iranian oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and a telecommunications tower on Qeshm Island, saying they violated a ceasefire understanding and international law.

The ministry said Kuwait and Bahrain bore “direct and clear responsibility” for the attacks, alleging their territory and facilities had been used to support US military operations against Iran.

Kuwait’s foreign ministry denied Iran’s accusations, saying that its territory and airspace were not used to attack “any country”. “The false Iranian claims are baseless and do not rely on evidence,” a ministry statement said.

Tehran said it reserved the right to self-defence and would use all available means to respond, including by targeting the source of any future attacks.

The IRGC claimed responsibility for the attack on Kuwait, saying it was in retaliation for the US attacks on the Strait of Hormuz and Qeshm Island.

“In response to this aggression, the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, which hosts helicopters, as well as the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, were targeted with missiles and drones by the Guards’ forces,” the IRGC said in a statement on Telegram.

However, later on Wednesday the IRGC denied that it had targeted Kuwait’s international airport, according to the state broadcaster IRIB.

IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said investigations showed that the force’s Aerospace Division had not fired at the passenger terminal.

Mohebbi claimed the damage was caused by a US-made Patriot missile that fell on the terminal after it failed to intercept Iranian missiles.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) quickly denied the accusation in a statement on X.

Global News Insight’s Almigdad Alruhaid, reporting from Tehran, said the latest tensions and clashes in the Gulf have been framed in Iran as a response to what they call “the US aggression” against the country.

“The spokesman for parliament’s National Security Committee said the United States understands the language of missiles better than the language of diplomacy,” he said.

“It is unclear whether all the escalation between the sides will halt the talks completely, or whether there is a pause in the exchange of messages between the sides.”

Meanwhile, a top Emirati official called for a united stance from the Gulf after renewed attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain by Iran.

“No Gulf state should be left to face these attacks alone, because the security of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states is interconnected, their interests are shared, and their destiny is one and the same,” said UAE presidential advisor Anwar Gargash in a post on X.

“This aggression does not just target one country, it targets us all,” he added.

Shaky truce

The latest flare-up comes more than three months after the initial US and Israeli strikes on Iran, with the conflict mired in a deadlock under a shaky ceasefire, and the Strait of Hormuz largely closed to maritime traffic.

A ceasefire has supposedly been in place between the US and Iran since April 8, but subsequent talks to try to agree on a permanent end to the conflict have so far been unsuccessful.

Iran and the US said last week that they had reached a tentative initial agreement to halt the war. But the two sides have yet to sign off on the deal.

Earlier, US forces fired a missile at a ship that was attempting to sail towards an Iranian port in violation of their blockade, disabling the vessel.

Washington has now forcibly halted six ships it said were attempting to violate the blockade, which has been in place since April 13.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) denied on Wednesday that it had targeted Kuwait International Airport, saying damage to a passenger terminal was caused by a malfunctioning US-made Patriot missile system, according to the state broadcaster IRIB.

IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said investigations showed that the force’s Aerospace Division had not fired at the Kuwaiti airport terminal.

“Our investigations regarding the impact on Kuwait’s passenger terminal show that the IRGC Aerospace Force did not fire at this target,” the spokesman said.

He claimed the damage was caused by a Patriot missile that fell on the terminal after failing to intercept Iranian missiles.

“The destruction of the passenger terminal at Kuwait Airport was caused by an American Patriot system error after it failed to intercept Iranian missiles,” he added.

The IRGC on Wednesday said it attacked a US base in Kuwait and the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, in retaliation for a US overnight attack on its communications tower on southern Qeshm Island.