Loud explosions and the wail of sirens shattered the early morning calm in Kuwait on Monday as the widening confrontation between Iran and the United States spilled further across the Gulf.
Smoke was seen rising near the United States embassy in Kuwait City, according to a Reuters witness, while Kuwaiti air defences intercepted most of the incoming drones over the Rumaithiya and Salwa neighborhoods, the state-run Kuwait News Agency reported, quoting the director general of civil defence.
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Kuwait’s Defence Ministry said several US fighter jets crashed on its territory. All crew members survived. Footage shared on social media showed a jet falling from the sky as a pilot appeared to eject before impact.
Kuwaiti authorities said search and rescue teams moved quickly in coordination with US forces, evacuating the crew and transferring them to the hospital. Officials described their condition as stable.
According to Al Jazeera, video evidence pointed to at least two separate crashes involving warplanes in Kuwait. He added that rescue crews were seen responding to smoke near the US embassy in the capital.
The incidents come as Tehran vowed to target US military assets in the region after joint US and Israeli strikes on Iran entered a third day. Iranian officials have framed their actions as retaliation for what they call American aggression.
The conflict has begun to touch civilian and commercial areas across Gulf cities, raising concern for key aviation and trade hubs. At least one person has been killed in Kuwait, according to local authorities.
On Sunday, the United States, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint statement condemning Iranian attacks across the region. The countries affirmed what they described as their right to self-defence.
In the statement, released after a high-level meeting, Gulf governments said they would take all necessary measures to defend their security and stability and to protect their territories, citizens, and residents, including the option of responding to the aggression.
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However, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Foreign Minister, sought to distinguish between US targets and Gulf states. Speaking to Al Jazeera on Sunday, he said Tehran was not seeking confrontation with its neighbours.
He said Iran has no problem with countries on the other side of the Persian Gulf and maintains friendly and good neighbourly relations with them. Iran, he added, is determined to continue those ties.
“What we are doing is in fact an act of self-defence and retaliation to the American aggression against us,” Araghchi said.
“We are not attacking our brothers in the Persian Gulf, we are not attacking our neighbours, but we are attacking American targets,” he added.
