The Kuwaiti armed forces successfully intercepted two ballistic missiles that entered the country's sovereign airspace in the early hours of Sunday, June 28.
The incident is part of a large-scale regional escalation after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) unleashed a wave of strikes against military targets in the Persian Gulf.
The reaction of the Kuwaiti authorities
The official spokesman for the Ministry of Defense of the Emirates, Colonel Saud al-Atwan, announced that the national air defense systems were operating at full readiness. “The threat was eliminated quickly and professionally in accordance with operational security protocols“, he said.
The ministry also confirmed:
No casualties: No civilians or military personnel were reported injured in the interception operation. No material damage: The debris from the missiles fell in uninhabited areas, without affecting strategic or civilian infrastructure.The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry issued a sharp diplomatic note, defining the attack as a “gross violation of national sovereignty“ and “unprovoked act of Iranian aggression“.
Escalation between Washington and Tehran
The missile attack on Kuwait and neighboring Bahrain comes as a direct response from Tehran to earlier US airstrikes on Iranian radar systems and facilities near the Persian Gulf. Just hours ago, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it had taken defensive action due to Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the region.
The new wave of violence effectively destroys the de-escalation agreement reached just a week earlier between Washington and Tehran. Iran's Revolutionary Guard has already warned that negotiations with the US are “completely broken” due to American actions.
The authorities in Kuwait have called on the UN Security Council for immediate international intervention to ensure the stability of global oil routes and security in the Middle East.