Kuwait came under attack on Monday after an exchange of attacks by the US and Iran amid negotiations to end the three-month-old war.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck a US base after the American military said it hit two command-and-control sites in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Kuwaiti military said its air defence systems intercepted “hostile missiles and drones” on Monday morning.
In a statement posted on X, the General Staff of the Kuwaiti Army said explosions were the result of air defences engaging incoming threats. There was no immediate confirmation of where the projectiles originated, nor any confirmed reports of casualties or damage.
Kuwait hosts US forces at several installations, including Camp Arifjan and Ali Al Salem Air Base, which form part of long-standing US-Gulf security arrangements, though it was not immediately clear which site – if any – was targeted in Monday’s attack.
The attack disrupted civilian aviation, with flight-tracking services showing multiple aircraft being diverted from Kuwait International Airport. Some inbound flights were placed in holding patterns over the Gulf before being rerouted.
Kuwait also came under attack last Thursday when its air defences responded to missile and drone strikes following US operations against Iranian drones.
The country was already on high alert after prosecutors referred suspected IRGC members to court over an alleged armed infiltration attempt on Bubiyan Island. That case involved arrests after an attempted boat landing and allegations of a planned attack on a restricted military zone.
The Iranian strikes appeared to be in retaliation for what the US military called “self-defence strikes” it carried out over the weekend on two Iranian command-and-control sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island, near the Strait of Hormuz.
The strikes, it said, followed the downing of a US MQ-1 drone operating over international waters. US Central Command said American fighter aircraft responded by destroying Iranian air defences, a ground control station and two one-way attack drones that it said posed threats to shipping in regional waters.
No US personnel were harmed, Centcom said in its statement, which framed the action as necessary to protect forces and maritime traffic.
In response, the IRGC said its air force struck and destroyed an airbase it claims was used by the US to launch an attack on a communications tower in the Sirik area near the strait.
In a statement carried by Mehr news agency, the IRGC said “all predetermined targets were destroyed”. It warned any repetition would trigger a response “completely different in scale and nature”, placing full responsibility for escalation on Washington.
Kuwait’s earlier warnings of cross-border attacks, including claims of projectiles launched by Iran-linked actors and the detention of alleged IRGC members on its territory, add to growing concerns that the current exchange is no longer contained to US-Iran flashpoints alone.
With air defences activated, flights diverted and rival militaries trading claims of successful strikes, the situation raises the prospect of the conflict widening across the Gulf.
The Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for one-fifth of global energy shipments in times of peace, is a flashpoint in the war that began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran and has since spread across the Middle East.
One of the countries worst affected is Lebanon, which was drawn in after the Hezbollah militant group joined the fighting in support of its main backer, Iran, and attacked Israel.
Following the latest flare-up, oil prices rose more than two per cent in early trading on Monday, Reuters reported, as investors awaited US President Donald Trump’s decision on a proposed deal to extend the ceasefire in place with Iran since April 8.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered troops to move further into Lebanon in the battle against Hezbollah, despite a separate US-backed ceasefire announced more than six weeks ago.
