KUWAIT CITY(RAHNUMA): Kuwait condemned on Thursday a drone-and-missile attack it blamed on Iran, as the Islamic republic’s renewed exchanges with US forces heaped pressure on the Middle East war’s fragile ceasefire.
A foreign ministry statement voiced Kuwait’s “strongest condemnation and denunciation of the criminal Iranian attacks that targeted the territory of the State of Kuwait with missiles and drones, in a dangerous escalation.”
The missile attack on Kuwait was an “egregious ceasefire violation,” the US military said Thursday, amid an exchange of strikes between the United States and Iran.
“This egregious ceasefire violation by the Iranian regime occurred hours after Iranian forces launched five one-way attack drones that posed a clear threat in and near the Strait of Hormuz,” the US Central Command said in a post on X, adding that all the drones were intercepted by US forces, who also prevented a sixth drone launch.
Kuwait’s army earlier said on Thursday that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed hostile missile and drone threats, but did not say where they came from.
The army said any sounds of explosions heard in the country were the result of air-defense systems intercepting the threats, and urged people to follow security and safety instructions issued by authorities.
The statement came after US strikes earlier on Thursday on what Washington said was an Iranian drone operation threatening US forces and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran confirmed the US attack and said it had targeted a US air base at 4:50 a.m. (0120 GMT) after what it described as an early morning US strike near Bandar Abbas airport. It did not say where the base was.
Gulf countries, including Kuwait, saw missile and drone attacks during the US-Israel war on Iran. Hostilities have largely eased since a ceasefire came into effect in April, though drones have since been launched from Iraq toward Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Saudi Arabia, through its foreign affairs ministry, has denounced the hostile attacks on Kuwait and condemned the “continuation of the treacherous Iranian attacks” on its Gulf neighbor.
The UAE, in a statement from its foreign affairs ministry, has condemned in the strongest terms what it described as “terrorist drone and missile attacks by Iran” targeting Kuwait.
These terrorist attacks constitute a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of Kuwait and a threat to its security and stability, the statement added.
Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Al-Budaiwi also issued a statement condemning the continued ‘heinous Iranian attacks’ on Kuwait.
The persistence of these treacherous attacks constitutes a flagrant violation of the principles of international law, the United Nations Charter, and the principles of good-neighborliness principles, he said in the statement.
