Iran launched a drone attack against a US military base in Kuwait in the early hours of Tuesday, according to Arab media reports, in what could mark a shift in Tehran’s strategy after several days of comparative restraint. Until now, Iran had largely limited its retaliation to strikes following direct American attacks on Iranian territory. Tuesday’s reported strike came instead just days after President Trump halted a planned large-scale US offensive against Iran to give diplomacy a final opportunity.
Video circulating on social media appeared to show a large fire burning inside the Kuwait installation after three drones reportedly struck the base. US officials had not confirmed the extent of any damage or casualties as of this report. In a separate incident late Monday, a commercial cargo vessel was reportedly attacked off the coast of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, with limited details available and no confirmation of any connection to the Kuwait strike, though the two incidents occurred within hours of each other.
Trump announced over the weekend that he had called off the planned offensive, saying in a Truth Social post that Saudi, Emirati, and Qatari intermediaries had told him negotiations were progressing toward an agreement that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping and ultimately address Iran’s nuclear program. Tuesday’s reported drone strike came despite that diplomatic opening.
The Preceding Week
Tuesday’s attack followed a week of expanding strikes on both sides. US forces completed what officials described as a “heavy wave” of strikes against dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets across Iran on Wednesday, July 29. Iran’s army responded with a series of claimed retaliatory strikes over the following days, none of which have been independently confirmed by US Central Command.
On Thursday, July 30, Iran’s army claimed to have struck Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, targeting power generators, navigation systems, and support buildings, according to Iranian state media. On Friday, July 31, Iran’s army claimed a further attack on two installations in Kuwait, Ali Al Salem Air Base and Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base, saying it hit fighter jet hangars, satellite communication systems, and US military equipment storage facilities. Neither CENTCOM nor Kuwaiti officials confirmed that claim. Iran has also previously claimed drone strikes on administrative buildings and navigation systems at Camp Arifjan, helicopter facilities at Camp Buehring, and troop quarters at Ahmad al-Jaber. Iranian state media has framed the strikes as retaliation for US attacks on Qeshm Island, which it claims caused civilian casualties, a claim that has likewise not been independently verified.
The conflict also reached Egyptian territory for the first time since the war began in late February. Egypt said Thursday that a drone struck two ships at its Mediterranean port of Damietta, sparking a fire; no group has claimed responsibility. Hamish Kinnear, a MENA analyst at the risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft, called the strike a sign of Egypt’s vulnerability to a widening conflict, and warned that the Suez Canal itself could become a target. “The expanding geographical range of drone and missile attacks on shipping this year, which encompass the Caspian Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean, amount to a new era of maritime risk,” Kinnear wrote in a research note, adding that tactics developed in Ukraine and the Middle East are now spreading maritime risk well beyond established conflict zones.
Oil prices climbed Friday, reversing earlier losses, after Iran’s Fars news agency, which is linked to the IRGC, reported that Iranian forces had stopped two tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz and that four additional tankers had changed course. That report has not been independently verified.
Separately, Trump said Wednesday that he wants Congress to attach new tariffs on Iran to a pending bipartisan sanctions bill targeting Russia and Iran together. The tariffs themselves would carry little practical weight, since the United States imports almost nothing from Iran, but attaching them to the bill could complicate its path to passage.
As of Tuesday, neither Washington nor Tehran had confirmed whether the diplomatic track Trump described over the weekend remains active following the reported Kuwait strike.
