Iran Denies Kuwait Bombing, Says Ceasefire Talks Continue
Iran denied responsibility for a drone strike on Kuwait International Airport that killed one and injured 63, claiming an errant U.S. Patriot missile caused the damage despite surveillance footage showing an Iranian drone hit.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohbi issued the denial, insisting that Iranian “investigations” had determined no Iranian missiles were launched at the target. Mohbi claimed a U.S. Patriot missile, ostensibly launched to intercept incoming threats, malfunctioned and struck the airport terminal instead.
The IRGC spokesman’s account, however, contradicted surveillance footage released Thursday showing an Iranian drone striking Kuwait International Airport directly.
U.S. Central Command dismissed the Iranian claims as entirely false, stating that Iran struck the civilian airport with drones in what CENTCOM characterized as a deliberate, calculated, and unjustified attack.
Kuwait responded to the strike by expelling two Iranian diplomats on Wednesday. The attack killed one person and wounded at least 63 others.
Israeli outlet Ynet News assessed that beyond any face-saving denials from Tehran, the airport strike served a calculated strategic purpose. The outlet argued that Iran was not merely punishing Kuwait for hosting American forces, but demonstrating that any U.S. military action against Iranian territory will provoke immediate retaliation against civilian infrastructure in the region.
Ynet warned that passenger terminals throughout the Gulf now represent potential instruments of Iranian strategic leverage in a conflict Tehran is deliberately internationalizing beyond its own borders.
Ceasefire Talks Continue Despite Escalation
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV on Thursday that indirect messages continue to be exchanged between Iran and the United States, though no formal negotiations are currently underway.
Araghchi identified Iran’s most urgent priority as preventing a potential Israeli strike on Beirut suburbs that function as strongholds for Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah. He claimed that Iranian military readiness, combined with diplomacy and international pressure, has deterred Israel from moving against Beirut, and reiterated Iran’s demand that Lebanon be included in any ceasefire agreement between Washington and Tehran.
The foreign minister warned the United States that an Israeli attack on Beirut would effectively terminate the ceasefire and could trigger a response from Iranian Armed Forces.
Supreme Leader Issues New Warning
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since reportedly being injured in the strike that killed his father and predecessor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28, released another statement Thursday marking the 37th anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death.
In the message, Khamenei claimed Iran has defeated Israel and the United States and has become a source of pride for freedom-seeking nations worldwide.
The Supreme Leader alleged that Israel has been reduced to spreading doubt, fear, despair, mistrust, and division within Iran, urging Iranians to resist by supporting his theocratic dictatorship more fervently. Khamenei warned that anyone causing pessimism or disillusionment would be treated as a traitor and punished for aiding the enemy.
With information from Breitbart News
