US and Iran Trade Strikes Across Persian Gulf as Iranian Drones Hit Kuwait Airport

Today’s Focus

The United States and Iran exchanged a fresh round of strikes across the Persian Gulf overnight, and Kuwait said Iranian drones hit a terminal at its main international airport, killing at least one person and wounding more than 60 others.

US Central Command (Centcom) said it launched what it called “self-defence” strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, targeting an Iranian military ground control station, according to the BBC. Centcom said the action followed Iranian missile and drone attempts against ships and Gulf states.

According to Centcom statements cited by the BBC, Iran fired two missiles toward Kuwait and three toward Bahrain, all of which either broke apart or were intercepted. One drone, however, struck buildings at Kuwait International Airport.

Kuwait’s defence ministry spokesman, Brig Gen Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, described the attack as “criminal Iranian aggression,” the BBC reported. The Kuwaiti foreign ministry said diplomatic missions were also damaged.

The exchange began Tuesday when Centcom said a US aircraft fired a Hellfire missile into the engine room of the Botswana-flagged tanker M/T Lexie, which was moving toward Iran’s Kharg Island despite 24 hours of warnings, according to The Guardian. The strike was part of the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, in place since April 13.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it retaliated by striking the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, a claim Centcom denied, The Guardian reported. Iranian state media said the country had hit US bases and helicopters in a “regional country.”

The escalation comes as Washington and Tehran attempt to negotiate a new ceasefire. Roughly 20,000 sailors remain stranded in the Gulf because of the blockade, the BBC reported separately.

The Debate

Supporters argue

Backers of the US posture say the Hormuz blockade and the Qeshm strike are lawful self-defence aimed at protecting commercial shipping and Gulf partners. Centcom said its forces shot down three Iranian drones aimed at “civilian mariners that were rightfully transiting regional waters,” language the BBC quoted from the command’s statement.

Kuwait, a US ally, has publicly aligned with that framing. Brig Gen Al-Otaibi called the drone strike on the airport “criminal Iranian aggression,” according to the BBC, and the Kuwaiti foreign ministry said diplomatic infrastructure had been damaged, strengthening the case that Iran, not the US, is widening the war.

Republican supporters of the administration argue the blockade is squeezing Tehran’s oil revenue and deterring further attacks on shipping. Fox News reported Kuwait’s condemnation of “brutal and ongoing Iranian attacks,” language administration allies have used to argue that pulling back now would reward Iranian escalation against civilian targets.

Critics argue

Critics say the April naval blockade and the Hellfire strike on the M/T Lexie risk turning a contained confrontation into a regional war. The Guardian noted the tanker was unladen and in international waters when it was disabled, raising questions among international law scholars about proportionality.

Progressive Democrats and antiwar groups have argued that sustained US strikes on Iranian territory require congressional authorization under the War Powers Resolution. Al Jazeera’s running coverage highlighted concern in Arab capitals that the blockade is drawing Gulf states such as Kuwait and Bahrain into a conflict they did not choose.

Humanitarian critics point to the roughly 20,000 seafarers the BBC described as “trapped” by the blockade, many running short on food, fuel and medical care. They contend that civilians, not the Iranian government, are bearing the immediate cost of the US pressure campaign, while Tehran retains both the capacity and the political incentive to keep firing back.

What the experts say

Nonpartisan analysts say the Strait of Hormuz remains the world’s most consequential energy chokepoint. The US Energy Information Administration estimates that roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day, about one fifth of global petroleum liquids consumption, pass through the strait, meaning sustained fighting there carries global economic consequences regardless of military outcomes.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has long assessed that Iran’s asymmetric arsenal of drones, anti-ship missiles and fast-attack boats is designed precisely for harassment campaigns of the kind now under way, making a quick, decisive end unlikely.

Historically, the closest parallel is the 1987-1988 “Tanker War” during the Iran-Iraq conflict, when the US Navy reflagged Kuwaiti tankers and clashed with Iranian forces. Research by the RAND Corporation on that period found that limited naval engagements repeatedly escalated through miscalculation, a pattern analysts cited by Reuters say is again visible in the current Centcom-IRGC exchanges over Qeshm and Bahrain.

By the Numbers

1: person killed and more than 60 injured in the Iranian drone strike on Kuwait International Airport, according to Kuwaiti officials cited by the BBC.

5: Iranian missiles Centcom said were fired at Gulf states overnight, two toward Kuwait and three toward Bahrain, all reported intercepted or broken apart, per the BBC.

13 April: start date of the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, according to BBC reporting.

20,000: approximate number of seafarers the BBC reports are stranded in the Gulf war zone because of the blockade.

20 million: barrels of oil per day that normally transit the Strait of Hormuz, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

M/T Lexie: the Botswana-flagged tanker disabled by a US Hellfire missile en route to Iran’s Kharg Island, per Centcom statements cited by The Guardian.