US, Iran continue trade attacks as peace talks drag on for weeks – National

Kuwait briefly closed the country’s main airport on Wednesday after Iranian drones heavily damaged a terminal building, killing one person and injuring dozens – the latest hijacking in a series of twin attacks by Iran and the United States which has been testing a fragile ceasefire.

The attacks came after Iran’s semi-official news agencies said the country had cut off communication with mediators on extending a ceasefire in the war with the US and Israel. A regional official said Tehran wanted the ceasefire in Lebanon to be implemented before returning to talks. US President Donald Trump said negotiations were continuing.

Talks have dragged on for weeks, and repeated exchanges of attacks in the Gulf region and Israel’s widening war in Lebanon are further straining efforts.

All the while, Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz – a crucial artery for the world’s oil and natural gas – and the US has continued to blockade Iranian ports, ensuring that global fuel prices remain high and the effects of the conflict are felt beyond the region.

The spokesman of the Ministry of Defense Brig. General Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi said “a number of hostile drones” targeted a passenger building at Kuwait International Airport.

Authorities said one person was killed and 63 were injured, including passengers and workers. Health Ministry spokesman Abdullah Al Sanad said some of them had suffered serious injuries.

The Foreign Ministry said Kuwait reserves the right to respond to Iran and that it “will neither accept nor tolerate” the attacks.

The airport partially reopened later in the day, according to civil aviation authorities, with Kuwait Airways flights resuming from a different terminal than the one that was hit. No other flight would work, they said. The airport only reopened on Monday after being closed at the start of the war.

Meanwhile, the US military said Iran fired two missiles at Kuwait that were destroyed en route and that it “shot down multiple drones” targeting US forces in the country.

The military also said US and Bahraini forces intercepted missiles aimed at the Gulf kingdom, which is home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. Bahrain’s Defense Ministry said its military had intercepted and destroyed three missiles and a number of drones launched by Iran.

The US military said it launched the strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard admitted targeting the headquarters of the 5th Fleet and US military facilities elsewhere, but did not name Kuwait.

Both the US and Iran said they were retaliating for previous attacks or attempted attacks.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the US strikes on Qeshm Island, where it said a telecommunications tower had been hit, and other previous attacks. He called them “acts of aggression” which he said violated the ceasefire.

A senior Emirati diplomat called on Wednesday for “a strong, unified and cohesive Gulf position” against Iran after the attacks.

“This aggression does not target a specific country, but all of us,” wrote Anwar Gargash on the X platform.

Iran’s Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be close to the Guards, reported that Iranian negotiators have cut off communication with truce brokers as tensions flared in Israel’s separate but related war against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

A regional official involved in the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, told The Associated Press that Iran had not communicated at all on Tuesday after saying a ceasefire in Lebanon needed to be implemented for negotiations to continue.

Trump called reports of a breakdown in talks “false and wrong.”

“The conversations between us have been ongoing, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, the day before and today,” Trump said in a social media post. “Where they lead, no one knows, but as I said to Iran, ‘The time has come, one way or another, for you to make a deal.’

Despite repeated outbreaks of violence, the ceasefire announced in Lebanon is officially in effect. Neither side has officially withdrawn or declared a cease-fire over, but attacks continue. Israeli forces have pushed deeper into Lebanon than at any time in more than a quarter of a century, while Hezbollah has launched rocket and drone attacks.

As the attacks continue, Lebanon has emerged as a key sticking point in Trump’s efforts to sign a ceasefire deal with Iran.

Tehran insists that any potential major ceasefire in the war there must also end the fighting in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to keep the issues separate and is under intense domestic pressure to crack down on Hezbollah as he prepares for new elections this fall.

The fighting has exposed a rift between Israel’s close allies and the US, with the US pushing for restraint and Israel seeking to increase military pressure on Hezbollah.

A person familiar with the situation said Netanyahu and Trump had a “tense” conversation earlier this week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The person did not elaborate on the details of the call.

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