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Iran launched a deadly new set of attacks in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday as it traded strikes with the United States, the latest exchange to threaten the fragile ceasefire and stalled peace talks between the two countries.
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One person was killed and flights were suspended in Kuwait, officials said, after missile and drone strikes including an attack on its international airport. The U.S. military said it shot down Iranian drones near the Strait of Hormuz and struck Iran’s Qeshm Island a day earlier.
Repeated military exchanges between Washington and Tehran, as well as Israel’s escalating campaign in Lebanon, have added strain to efforts to end the war and reopen the crucial trade route. The two sides offered mixed messages on the status of talks, with President Donald Trump insisting they were ongoing after Iran signaled it may walk away.
In a taped interview that aired Wednesday, Trump acknowledged calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” during a terse call about Lebanon earlier this week. Trump also said it was “unlikely” the U.S. blockade of Iran would still be in place by Labor Day, adding that he believed the situation would “resolve itself fairly quickly.”
He warned that he would ultimately have to make a “determination: do we sign a deal or we do it the other way? And the other way is not nice.”
The latest flare up in the conflict saw Kuwait report early Wednesday that one person had been killed in an Iranian drone attack. A further 63 people were injured, according to the Kuwaiti Health Ministry.
The attack caused significant damage to Terminal 1 at Kuwait International Airport, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Atwan said, with all air traffic briefly suspended as a result.
Videos published online and geolocated by NBC News showed a blazing fire inside the airport, surrounded by debris and heavy smoke as people ran for cover. Another showed the roof destroyed, with rubble scattered on the ground as emergency responders surveyed the aftermath.
Kuwait expelled two Iranian diplomats following the strikes, condemning the “flagrant violation” of its territorial integrity and the targeting of civilian infrastructure. Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry warned Iran it had a “full and inherent right to defend itself and to take all necessary measures to preserve its sovereignty.”
U.S. Central Command said late Tuesday that Iran had launched several ballistic missiles toward regional neighbors, though it said all of the attacks had “failed to hit their intended targets.”
Two missiles fired at Kuwait had fallen short or broken apart enroute, while three missiles launched at Bahrain were immediately intercepted by U.S. and Bahrain air defense forces, it said in a post on X. CENTCOM said its forces also shot down “three one-way attack drones launched by Iran toward civilian mariners that were rightfully transiting regional waters.”
It said American forces had also conducted what it described as “self-defense strikes” on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island.
CENTCOM announced earlier that it had also disabled a Botswana-flagged tanker as it headed toward Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil terminal, saying in a post on X that the ship’s crew “ignored repeated warnings, failing to comply with directions from U.S. forces multiple times over a 24-hour period.”
It said a U.S. aircraft ultimately disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room, blocking the tanker from reaching Iran, with the post noting that the U.S. military has “disabled six commercial vessels and redirected 122” since a blockade against Iran’s ports was launched April 13.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said it “strongly condemns the aggressive act of the US terrorist army in attacking an Iranian tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and attacking a telecommunications mast on Qeshm Island.” It said the attacks represented a violation of the shaky ceasefire agreement between the two countries as they look to negotiate a broader deal.
With talks in flux, Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz — a vital trade route through which some 20% of the world’s oil passes — has throttled global energy supplies since the U.S. and Israel launched the war in late February.
Oil prices rose overnight, with the international benchmark Brent Crude up by 2% to $98 a barrel.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military launched new strikes in Lebanon on Wednesday as it traded occasional attacks with Iran-backed Hezbollah despite Trump announcing both sides had agreed to de-escalate.
That intervention came after Tehran threatened to pull out of peace talks over Israel’s attacks in Lebanon.
Trump held a tense call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, a U.S. official familiar with the call and another source familiar with the call told NBC News.
Trump gave insight into the call during his interview with the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast that aired Wednesday.
Asked if he had called Netanyahu “crazy,” as first reported by Axios, Trump said, “I did.”
“I wouldn’t say angry,” Trump said of his approach, adding that he was “a little perturbed at his (Netanyahu) constantly fighting with Lebanon.” Still, he said “I like Bibi a lot and I’ve worked very well with him,” using Netanyahu’s nickname.
The tensions between the close allies come as Netanyahu faces domestic pressure to keep striking Hezbollah as he prepares for new elections this fall.
Chantal Da Silva reports on world news for NBC News Digital and is based in London.
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