Kuwait temporarily closed its airspace on Thursday, citing “Iranian aggressions” after US strikes on Iran, as the confrontation between Washington and Tehran pushed the Middle East closer to all-out regional conflict. The Kuwait airspace closure came as the country said it had intercepted “hostile aerial targets,” and it lasted several hours before authorities reopened it.
Iran’s state-run Tasnim news agency said Iran had “struck and destroyed eighteen important targets” belonging to US forces, naming Kuwait’s Ali Salem and Ahmad al-Jaber air bases as well as the Sheikh Issa air base in Bahrain. Bahrain’s interior ministry had earlier urged civilians to seek shelter, and the media adviser to Bahrain’s king later said the country’s air defence systems had intercepted and destroyed “Iranian aerial attacks.”
Israel’s Home Front Command separately warned of launches from Lebanon toward several communities in northern Israel, adding another front to an already sprawling crisis.
US Strikes and Trump’s Warnings
US Central Command said its strikes were completed at 9:04 p.m. ET on Wednesday, hitting Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems and air defence sites. The command said US forces fired on Iranian targets that “posed a threat to US forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters.” The strikes were carried out at President Donald Trump’s direction, following what the White House described as “Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression.”
Trump had warned earlier on Wednesday that the US would hit Iran “very hard” again. Speaking at a White House signing event for the Secure America Act, he said: ‘We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re going to hit them hard again today. We’re going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard.’ He pressed Tehran to reach a deal, saying Iran “should sign the deal” and that the US wants an agreement “that’s meaningful and works.”
Trump later told Fox News he had spoken directly with Iranian officials, who he said asked him to stop the strikes. He said the bombing would stop shortly and that Israel was not involved, but left the door open for further military action. Asked whether a ceasefire was over, Trump reportedly said it was the most violated ceasefire in history.
In response, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission in Iran’s parliament, wrote on X that “this time, the war won’t be limited to the region.”
The Strait of Hormuz: Kuwait Airspace Crisis Meets a Chokepoint Under Pressure
The conflict has centred heavily on the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes. Iranian state media reported that Iran had targeted US ships in the strait with missiles and drones. Reuters later reported that Iran’s top military command had completely closed the Strait of Hormuz, warning that any vessel attempting to cross would be targeted.
According to the Congressional Research Service, Iranian forces first declared the strait “closed” on 4 March 2026, and have since threatened and carried out attacks on ships attempting to transit. The closure has turned a strategic waterway that handles a substantial share of global oil flows into an active conflict zone.
Despite that, commercial shipping has not stopped entirely. The New York Times reported that US Central Command has helped around 70 commercial ships pass through the strait in the last three weeks, with the US military effectively escorting vessels through contested waters.
Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported that no offensive military operations had been carried out in the strait in the previous 24 hours. Iran has not directly claimed responsibility for downing a US Army Apache helicopter, which US Central Command cited as the trigger for Tuesday’s strikes. The Iranian Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Markets React to the Escalation
Financial markets reacted sharply. US crude climbed nearly 2% to $89.72 per barrel and Brent rose 1.3% to $92.74 after Trump’s remarks, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 600 points. Trump said he expected oil prices to fall back once the military operation concluded, repeating his assertion that prices would return to where they were “before the war began in February.”
Claudio Galimberti, chief economist at Rystad Energy, told CNBC earlier this week that oil could hit $150 per barrel within the next couple of months if the fighting in the Middle East continues, pointing to inventory levels he described as “very low.” Whether the diplomatic contact Trump described in his Fox News interview translates into any pause in hostilities now becomes the immediate question for governments, shippers and markets alike.
