Iran Strikes US-Used Bases In Kuwait And UAE As Israel Warns Of 'Desperate Steps'

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates —

Iran struck air bases used by the American military in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates this week, showing it can still reach US positions in the Gulf despite six months of war and a new round of sanctions the Trump administration has called an "economic D-day," The Guardian reported.

Iran's military said Thursday it hit satellite communication systems, equipment depots and aircraft hangars at the Ahmad al-Jaber air base in Kuwait with missiles and drones, according to a statement carried by Iranian state television and reported by The Guardian. The same statement said Iranian forces also struck radar systems and troop positions at the Al Minhad air base in the UAE. Kuwait's defense ministry said on X that its air defenses intercepted the attacks, calling them "blatant Iranian aggression." Bahrain and Jordan said a day earlier that their own air defenses had shot down Iranian strikes as well, The Guardian reported.

Fighting Spreads After Hormuz Strike

The latest exchange follows a US strike on Sunday that hit Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz, a move Washington said was meant to stop Iran from firing mines into the waterway, according to The Guardian. Euronews reported that the US had already struck Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps targets along Iran's southern coast the previous Tuesday, prompting Iranian missile and drone attacks on sites in Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait. Jordan's armed forces said they intercepted 13 ballistic missiles that entered the country's airspace, Euronews reported. Iranian state media claimed a US strike killed at least four people, including a child, at a wedding in the town of Kuhestak in southern Iran, according to Euronews.

Oil prices, already elevated ahead of the US midterm elections, rose again Thursday after the new Iranian strikes, The Guardian reported. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains well below prewar levels despite President Trump's claims that the waterway has reopened to oil shipments, according to The Guardian.

Israel Warns Of 'Desperate Steps'

Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, said Thursday that the new US sanctions appear to be working but warned they could also push Iran's government toward extreme action. "We see signs indicating that the heavy economic pressure they are under, and the fear of an uprising and the collapse of the regime, may push them to desperate steps," Katz said at a ceremony for defense ministry staff, according to The Guardian. He repeated earlier threats against Iran, saying any Iranian attack on Israel would prompt strikes on "all of Iran's national military and civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure," and would "push Iran deep back into the stone age."

An IRGC spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, said late last month that Iran's missile stockpiles and production capacity remain intact, contradicting US claims that Tehran is running low on weapons, The Guardian reported. His claim could not be independently verified.