{"id":459493,"date":"2026-06-03T21:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/459493\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T21:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:50:12","slug":"one-killed-after-iran-strikes-kuwaits-main-airport-as-ceasefire-tested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/459493\/","title":{"rendered":"One killed after Iran strikes Kuwait&#8217;s main airport as ceasefire tested"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  [&amp;_p]:tit-sub-xl tit-sub-xl md:[&amp;_p]:d-tit-sub-xl md:d-tit-sub-xl mb-[1.3rem]\">Kuwait briefly shut its main airport after Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal, killed one person and wounded dozens \u2014 the latest in back-and-forth attacks by Iran and the US that test a fragile ceasefire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The strike <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/06\/01\/us-bombs-iranian-military-sites-kuwait-hit-by-drone-and-missile-fire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">reinforced the risks to residents and travellers in Gulf<\/a> countries that had considered themselves relative havens before the war, now in its fourth month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Talks have dragged on for weeks as mediators seek a more enduring truce in the US-Israeli war with Iran. They are increasingly strained by Israel\u2019s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">A regional official said Iran wanted a separate ceasefire in Lebanon enforced before returning to talks. US President Donald Trump said negotiations continue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The fighting in Lebanon has also exposed a rift <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/06\/04\/israels-weapons-exports-reach-highest-record\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">between Israel<\/a> and the US, which is pushing its ally for restraint. In a measure of the friction, Trump acknowledged that he&#8217;d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/06\/02\/youre-fing-crazy-trump-reportedly-blasts-netanyahu-over-lebanon\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u201ccrazy\u201d<\/a> during a phone call earlier this week. Nonetheless, both men say their rapport is solid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Iran maintains its hold on the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 a crucial waterway for the world\u2019s oil and natural gas and related products like fertiliser \u2014 and the US continues its blockade of Iranian ports. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/06\/03\/nz-diesel-stock-levels-slip-to-lowest-level-since-us-iran-war-began\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Global fuel prices remain high<\/a>, and the effects of the conflict are felt well beyond the region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">In Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he, Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio huddled for three hours at the White House Monday as Trump worked on \u201cthat final piece\u201d of getting commerce flowing. Rubio, meanwhile, faced grilling in Congress over the war and its economic fallout.<\/p>\n<p>An Indian national is killed at Kuwait&#8217;s main airport<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">A spokesperson for Kuwait&#8217;s Defence Ministry, Brigadier General Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, said \u201ca number of hostile drones\u201d targeted a passenger building at Kuwait International Airport. It had opened only Monday (local time) after a months-long closure because of the war, which began February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">India\u2019s embassy said the person killed was an Indian national. Authorities said 63 were wounded, including passengers and workers, and some suffered serious injuries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Kuwait&#8217;s Defence Ministry said it destroyed over a dozen missiles and a similar number of drones from Iran.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The airport partially reopened later, with Kuwait Airways flights resuming at a different terminal, according to civil aviation authorities. No other flights were operating.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The Foreign Ministry said Kuwait will \u201cneither accept nor tolerate\u201d the attacks and was kicking out two Iranian diplomats. Such expulsions are an established means of communicating international ire.<\/p>\n<p>US and Iran say they are retaliating for earlier attacks<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/people-gather-on-paddleboards-in-shallow-water-as-cargo-and-WXWATPBVRVAITKK6L6D7DRZGQ4.jpg\" alt=\"People gather on paddleboards in shallow water as cargo and service vessels are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, June 1, 2026.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-hi5x8q-0 cWTYyG image-metadata\">People gather on paddleboards in shallow water as cargo and service vessels are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, June 1, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The US military said two Iranian missiles fell apart en route to Kuwait and that it \u201cdowned multiple drones\u201d targeting American forces in the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The military also said US and Bahraini forces intercepted missiles aimed at the Gulf kingdom, home to the US Navy\u2019s 5th fleet. Bahrain\u2019s Defence Ministry said its military intercepted and destroyed three missiles and a number of drones fired by Iran.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged that it targeted the headquarters of the 5th Fleet and US military facilities in another country, but did not name Kuwait.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Both the US and Iran said they were retaliating for earlier attacks or attempted ones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The US military also said it launched strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Iran&#8217;s Foreign Ministry condemned the US strikes on the island, where it said a telecommunications tower was struck, and other previous strikes. It called them \u201cacts of aggression\u201d that it said violated the ceasefire.<\/p>\n<p>The war is increasingly tied to Israel\u2019s fight in Lebanon<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/people-swim-on-a-public-beach-as-smoke-background-rises-from-4N5BU267DVDKROZ2GC3KS4UXJQ.jpg\" alt=\"People swim on a public beach as smoke, background, rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Qlaileh village, seen from the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-hi5x8q-0 cWTYyG image-metadata\">People swim on a public beach as smoke, background, rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Qlaileh village, seen from the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026.  (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Israeli forces have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/06\/03\/israel-strikes-kill-11-in-lebanon-after-trump-said-fighting-would-dial-back\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">moved deeper into Lebanon<\/a> than at any time in over a quarter-century, while Hezbollah has launched rocket and drone attacks. The declared ceasefire in Lebanon is officially in place, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/06\/03\/is-ceasefire-losing-meaning-middle-east-fighting-is-worsening\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">no side has formally withdrawn or declared it over<\/a> even as attacks continue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Iran insists that any larger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/06\/02\/trump-says-israel-and-hezbollah-have-agreed-to-dial-back-fighting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">potential truce must quell the fighting in Lebanon<\/a>. Netanyahu wants to keep the issues separate and is under domestic pressure to strike Hezbollah as he prepares for elections this fall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">In a podcast interview released Wednesday (local time), Trump confirmed a report that he had called Netanyahu \u201ccrazy\u201d in a phone conversation peppered with an expletive. Trump told The New York Post\u2019s Pod Force One that he was \u201ca little bit perturbed\u201d that Israel\u2019s fight with Hezbollah was holding back talks with Iran.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Still, Trump said his relationship with Netanyahu was good, and \u201cwe\u2019ve worked very well together\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Netanyahu responded that he and Trump sometimes have \u201ctactical disagreements\u201d but have \u201ccommon goals\u201d and \u201cagree on the main things\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">\u201cHe respects me. I respect him. We always find a way to work out our differences,\u201d the prime minister said in an interview on the American business-news channel CNBC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kuwait briefly shut its main airport after Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal, killed one person and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,5107,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-459493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}