Major Iranian Attack On Kuwait International Airport Leaves One Dead, 63 Injured

Kuwait International Airport has come under Iranian missile and drone attack on Wednesday, in a significant strike that killed one person and left 63 people injured - according to the country's health ministry, with several of the victims being seriously wounded.

A passenger terminal was directly struck, damaging facilities including diplomatic missions at the airport, Kuwaiti authorities have said. Area hospitals conducted seven major emergency surgeries following the incident, underscoring that it was a mass casualty event.

Kuwaiti defense ministry spokesperson Brig Gen Saud Abdulaziz Al-Atwan described the attack as "criminal Iranian aggression which resulted in significant material damage to the building and injuries." It confirmed engaging 13 missiles and 17 drones total which were fired from Iran. 

Civil aviation authorities immediately suspended traffic and transferred arriving flights to separate unaffected airports after "terminal one came under Iranian attacks causing casualties and damage."

The cross-border airport attack came after violent exchanges of fire between the US and Iran, which at first looked like limited one-off incidents, but then became an extended tit-for-tat.

Overnight, the US military deployed a Hellfire missile to disable a tanker attempting to bypass the American blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. Following the intercept, American forces engaged in a wider kinetic exchange, stating they repelled subsequent Iranian reprisal strikes across the region and launched retaliatory attacks against military sites on Iran’s Qeshm Island.

In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed it launched a missile and drone barrage targeting the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain - an assertion that Central Command (CENTCOM) has explicitly denied. The IRGC had also sent several missiles on two US bases in Kuwait, which were said to have been intercepted.

Serous damage and chaos at Kuwait International Airport:

⚡️#UPDATE Iran bombs Kuwait International Airport pic.twitter.com/beTFw6Lyuv

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) June 3, 2026

The Gulf Cooperation Council has in response slammed Iran for their "ongoing aggression" against member states Bahrain and Kuwait, denouncing the "cowardly attacks on civilian objects" which mark a "dangerous and unprecedented escalation."

But Tehran is not backing down and is instead issuing further hardline warnings and threats, per Al Jazeera citing state media:

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says retaliatory strikes "should serve as a lesson" for the United States after it fired a barrage of missiles and drones at Kuwait and Bahrain.

While Iran's foreign ministry is warning that the overnight US assault on Qeshm Island continues a severe breach of the ceasefire, President Trump is saying that "conversations between us have been going on continuously" - in reference to the Iranians.

Kuwait's civil aviation authority confirmed Iranian drones and missiles hit the T1 terminal at Kuwait International Airport. Several people were injured and the building sustained severe damage. Commercial flights have been halted. https://t.co/fbFhjSofIY pic.twitter.com/zOz83Ba6cy

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 3, 2026

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More latest developments via Newsquawk...

• Explosions were heard near Qeshm Island in Iran on Wednesday morning.
• Kuwait's Army announced its air defences were intercepting hostile missile and drone attacks, while reports noted that two US bases were targeted in Kuwait, with explosions in the Ali al-Salem and Arifjan bases where US soldiers are stationed. Furthermore, air raid sirens sounded in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with explosions also reported in Saudi Arabia, while explosions were heard in Qamishli, Syria, and earlier reports noted multiple explosions in the centre of Iraqi Kurdistan with the headquarters of anti-Iranian separatist groups targeted.
• IRGC said the US attacked Qeshm Island, and in response, Iran carried out precise and intensive missile strikes on US bases in Kuwait, while it warned further US aggression will be met with a seismic, crushing and decisive response.
• IRGC said the headquarters of the US 5th Fleet in Bahrain was attacked by missiles and drones from the IRGC Aerospace Force, while it targeted a US-affiliated vessel named Panaya with missiles and clarified the recent attack was in retaliation for the US targeting an IRGC communications tower in the south of Qeshm Island.
• US CENTCOM said Iran launched several ballistic missiles towards neighbours and that forces successfully defeated multiple Iranian missiles, while US forces had conducted strikes on Qeshm Island in response to attempted attacks by Iran. CENTCOM stated that forces shot down three one-way attack drones launched by Iran toward civilian mariners that were rightfully transiting regional waters, and US forces also conducted self-defence strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island. Furthermore, it denied IRGC claims that Iran struck the 5th Fleet HQ in Bahrain and a US airbase in the region, and stated that all Iranian attacks on US forces failed.
• US CENTCOM says forces disabled a Botswana-flagged unladen oil tanker that was attempting to sail toward an Iranian port on the Arabian Gulf on June 2nd. Says: US aircraft disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room, preventing the tanker from reaching Iran.
• US President Trump is pushing Iran to make firmer nuclear commitments and wants nuclear concessions in writing from Iran, according to ABC News.
• US Secretary of State Rubio said that Iran has mined large segments of the Hormuz Strait. Rubio stated that nuclear negotiations with Iran were highly complicated and technical, which would therefore take time, while he added that the war with Iran had made interactions with Tehran more complicated, but also commented that the "war in Iran is over".
• Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the US attacks on Iranian tanker and Qeshm island. The Foreign Ministry "notes the direct and clear responsibility of the rulers of Kuwait and Bahrain for last night’s aggressive acts."
• Hardline Iranian lawmaker called for stronger military response to US strikes, Al Jazeera reported.
• Kuwait’s General Civil Aviation Authority said an emergency plan at Kuwait International Airport was activated after Terminal 1 was targeted by Iranian drones and missiles.
• Hezbollah attacked an Israeli command post in southern Lebanon with a drone strike, which wounded eight Israeli soldiers, according to SNN.