With diplomatic negotiations between the United States and Iran struggling to find a breakthrough, Iran struck Kuwait's airport, once again targeting civilian facilities in addition to U.S. military sites. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been provoking Iran, reportedly halted airstrikes on Lebanon under U.S. pressure, he faced accusations of being a "U.S. vassal state," raising the likelihood that attacks could resume.
Kuwait's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said Monday that Iran attacked Terminal 1 (T1) of Kuwait International Airport, causing casualties and facility damage. It came just two days after international passenger flights resumed at Terminal 1 of Kuwait International Airport on the first of this month. Authorities said they activated an emergency response system and suspended all flights until the airport's safety is confirmed, with aircraft being diverted to nearby alternate airports. The airport had been damaged by Iran's retaliatory airstrikes against neighboring countries on Feb. 28 and could not operate normally until the first.
According to Reuters and other outlets, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced through state media the previous day that it had attacked the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain and U.S. military facilities in Kuwait with missiles and drones. Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, also released a video showing explosions occurring at a U.S. military base stationed in Kuwait, citing local residents and sources, and reported that there had been multiple explosions at U.S. military facilities.
U.S. Central Command immediately pushed back. Through X (formerly Twitter), Central Command said, "The claim that Iran attacked the Fifth Fleet command and a U.S. Air Force base is not true," adding that "all of Iran's attacks targeting U.S. forces have failed." It explained that the two missiles Iran launched toward Kuwait either crashed or disintegrated in the air before reaching their targets, while three missiles aimed at Bahrain were intercepted by U.S. and Bahraini forces.
The U.S. military also said it shot down three suicide drones that Iran launched targeting a civilian vessel passing through the Gulf waters. It then said it had carried out an airstrike on Iranian military ground control facilities on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz as an act of self-defense. Qeshm Island is Iran's largest island, located in the Strait of Hormuz, and is home to major crude oil storage facilities. Central Command stressed that it was "prepared to respond to Iran's unprovoked attacks."
Amid these exchanges, a tug-of-war over a cease-fire agreement continues. Earlier, Tasnim News Agency reported that Iran had suspended the exchange of messages for at least several days in protest of Israel's attack on Lebanon, but U.S. President Donald Trump rebutted it as "fake news" through Truth Social, claiming that "talks have continued nonstop four days ago, and to this day." In an interview with the New York Post's podcast "Pod Force One," Trump also said, "Mojtaba Khamenei, the new Iranian Supreme Leader, is involved in cease-fire negotiations, and I would like to meet him someday," adding that "they have already agreed not to possess nuclear weapons."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and said, "There is a possibility of succeeding in the negotiations. It could happen today, tomorrow, or next week." However, he stressed that "any sanctions relief is conditional," emphasizing that because Iran became a target of sanctions due to its nuclear program, sanctions relief is possible only if there is an abandonment of nuclear weapons. This differs in tone from Iran's position that $12 billion in assets frozen overseas should be released simultaneously with the signing of a 60-day cease-fire memorandum of understanding (MOU), with the nuclear program to be discussed afterward.
Meanwhile, as Netanyahu was reported to have withdrawn his plan to strike Lebanon under pressure from Trump, he faced fierce criticism within Israel. Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist opposition party Yesh Atid, wrote on X that it was "complete vassalage," while former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu's political rival and a candidate for the next premiership, also criticized that "the government has lost control over Israel's sovereignty."
