One killed and several wounded in Iranian attack on Kuwait’s international airport

US and Iran exchange more strikes across Gulf region, jeopardising efforts to secure a new ceasefire

Kuwait’s military said Iranian strikes that hit a terminal at its international airport killed at least one person and wounded 63, as well as causing significant damage in the first deadly attack on the Gulf since a ceasefire on 8 April came into place.

The attack came as the US and Iran exchanged fresh missile and drone strikes, further jeopardising efforts to secure a new ceasefire agreement between Washington and Tehran.

Overnight, US forces fired a Hellfire missile to disable a tanker trying to break through the American blockade of the strait of Hormuz and later said they had repelled Iranian reprisal strikes and attacked sites on Iran’s Qeshm Island.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had attacked the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain with missiles and drones in response to the strike on Qeshm, a claim the US military’s Central Command denied.

The latest exchange of fire began when Centcom said it targeted an unladen tanker – the Botswana-flagged M/T Lexie – on Tuesday. Centcom said an aircraft fired a missile to disable the tanker’s engine as it passed through international waters toward Iran’s Kharg Island near Kuwait. Crew apparently ignored repeated warnings over a 24-hour period. Iran responded with the drone strike on a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s airport.

Kuwait’s defence 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”.

Kuwait’s state news agency said civil aviation authorities had suspended traffic and transferred incoming flights to alternative airports.

A statement from Iran’s foreign ministry blamed Kuwait and Bahrain for the attacks, condemning what it called the “colonialist use by the United States of the territory and infrastructure of countries in the region to advance its aggressive plans against Iran”. It said the incident “emphasises the direct and unmistakable responsibility of the leaders of Kuwait and Bahrain for last night’s acts of aggression”.

Kuwait’s deputy foreign minister, Hamad Suleiman Al-Mashaan, summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires, Hamed Hamid Yaqoubi Far, to formally protest over Iran’s continued attacks. Kuwait also ordered a reduction in Iranian embassy staff, declared two Iranian diplomats persona non grata and gave them 24 hours to leave the country, the foreign ministry said.

US forces also said they had shot down three one-way attack dron