Kuwait temporarily closed its airspace on Thursday following the Kuwait airspace Iran strikes crisis, after the country said it had intercepted hostile aerial targets in response to what it called ‘Iranian aggressions.’ The closure came in the wake of U.S. military strikes on targets inside Iran, ordered by President Donald Trump.
Iran’s state-run Tasnim news agency claimed that Iran ‘struck and destroyed eighteen important targets’ belonging to U.S. forces at Kuwait’s Ali Salem and Ahmad al-Jaber air bases, as well as the Sheikh Issa air base in Bahrain. Kuwait reopened its airspace after several hours.
Kuwait Airspace and Iran Strikes Shake the Gulf Region
Bahrain also came under fire, with the media adviser to Bahrain’s king confirming that the country’s air defence systems had intercepted and destroyed ‘Iranian aerial attacks.’ Earlier on Thursday, Bahrain’s interior ministry had urged civilians to head to a safe place. Israel’s Home Front Command issued a separate warning of launches from Lebanon directed at several communities in northern Israel.
U.S. Central Command said its strikes on Iran were completed at 9:04 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The command said it hit Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defence sites, and that U.S. forces had fired on Iranian targets that ‘posed a threat to U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters.’
Trump 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. When asked whether a ceasefire was in effect, Trump reportedly said it was the most violated ceasefire in history.
‘We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re going to hit them hard again today,’ Trump had said earlier at a White House signing event for the Secure America Act. He added that Iran ‘should sign the deal’ and that the U.S. wants an agreement ‘that’s meaningful and works.’
In response, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission in Iran’s parliament, wrote that ‘this time, the war won’t be limited to the region’ in a post on X. The escalation follows Trump’s earlier warning on Truth Social that Iran had taken too long to negotiate and would ‘pay the price.’
Strait of Hormuz Closure Raises Global Shipping Alarm
Iranian state media reported that Iran had targeted U.S. ships in the Strait of Hormuz with missiles and drones. Reuters then reported that Iran’s top military command had completely closed the Strait of Hormuz, warning that any vessel attempting to cross would be targeted. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy said the strait is closed until the U.S. blockade is lifted, warning that ‘no vessel should make any movement from its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and approaching the Strait of Hormuz will be considered as cooperation with the enemy’ and be targeted, according to AP News.
The scale of disruption to global shipping is becoming clearer. According to the New York Times, U.S. Central Command has guided around 70 commercial ships through the strait in the last three weeks, escorting vessels in and out of the Persian Gulf. Before the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February, well over 100 commercial ships a day were passing through the same waterway. The drop underscores how severely the conflict has already disrupted one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes.
Financial markets reacted sharply to the escalation. U.S. crude climbed nearly 2% to $89.72 per barrel and Brent rose 1.3% to $92.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 600 points following Trump’s remarks. Trump said it was ‘a military operation’ and repeated his assertion that oil prices will return to the levels 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, as inventories are now at very low levels.
The latest strikes were described by U.S. Central Command as a response to ‘the downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter.’ Iran has not directly claimed responsibility for downing the helicopter. Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported that no offensive military operations had been carried out in the strait in the previous 24 hours. The Iranian Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
