Iran’s army has attacked US bases in Kuwait and vowed to continue strikes in the coming hours, as the war in the Middle East entered its seventh day with fresh assaults across multiple countries.
Explosions were heard in the Kuwaiti capital as authorities confronted missile and drone strikes, an AFP journalist reported. Kuwait’s defence ministry said 67 Kuwaiti army personnel have been injured in the conflict, the highest number by far of any Gulf military.
“These attacks will continue in the coming hours,” the Iranian army said, according to Iranian state television.
The escalation came as a New York Times investigation found the United States is most likely responsible for a strike that killed at least 150 people at an Iranian elementary school on 28 February. The attack hit a school in the southern city of Minab, close to sites controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Neither Israel nor the United States has claimed responsibility.
Israel said it had launched strikes on Tehran targeting “regime infrastructure” in a “new phase” of the war. AFP journalists in Tehran heard loud blasts in the city and Iranian media reported heavy strikes. An Iranian official said at least 20 people had died in US and Israeli strikes in the southern city of Shiraz. AFP could not independently verify the toll.
In Iraq, explosions sounded near Erbil airport in the autonomous Kurdistan region and an attack forced a US-run oil field to shut production. AFP journalists reported explosions and grey smoke rising from near the airport area, which hosts US-led coalition troops. Iraqi Kurdish authorities said oil production at a field operated by US firm HKN Energy had been halted following an attack.
Four drones also struck Basra airport in southern Iraq and two nearby oil facilities, a security official told AFP.
Israel struck a building in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon without prior warning, state media said. The strike targeted an office building near two shelters for displaced people, an AFP photographer said. Rescuers removed at least one body and were gathering human remains.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has warned that “a humanitarian disaster is looming” as a result of Israeli evacuation orders causing massive population displacement, mainly in the southern suburbs of Beirut and the south of the country, both Hezbollah strongholds.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the Middle East war must not lead to the collapse of the Iranian state, warning of the potential impact on migration to Europe.
“An endless war is not in our interest. The same applies to a collapse of Iranian statehood or proxy conflicts fought on Iranian soil,” he said. “Such scenarios could have far-reaching consequences for Europe, including for security, energy supply and migration.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said “loyal cooperation” should prevail over “confrontation” in relations with the United States after tensions over Madrid’s opposition to Washington’s use of its bases against Iran. Relations should take place “with respect, in a spirit of loyal cooperation and on an equal footing”, added Sanchez, a major opponent of the war.
Ukrainian military personnel are expected to arrive in the Gulf “in the near future” to help countries there fend off Iranian drone attacks, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP. Kyiv has developed cheap and effective drone interceptors since Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago.
Danish shipping giant Maersk said it was suspending two intercontinental transit routes because of the war, its service connecting the Far East to the Middle East, and the route connecting the Middle East to Europe.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the US navy was preparing to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz “as soon as it’s reasonable to do it”.
International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol sought to calm concerns over oil supplies, saying “there is plenty of oil, we have no oil shortage”. Crude prices have soared since the start of the war on Saturday, fanning fears of a fresh spike in inflation.
Several blasts were heard over Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv, AFP journalists reported, after the military said it had detected new missiles launched from Iran.
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