Iranian missile hits Chinese firm’s building in Kuwait amid renewed strikes

The move came after the US hit Iranian targets (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP, File)

An Iranian strike has severely damaged a Chinese firm’s building in northern Kuwait, killing a worker, officials said, hours after Jordan’s air defences shot down five missiles launched from Iran.

The attacks on Thursday morning came after the US military said it had completed “a heavy wave of strikes against Iran” in response to an earlier Iranian missile attack on a US base in Jordan.

US Central Command said in a social media post that the US had struck “dozens” of targets belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, including military command centres as well as missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance and defence sites.

No casualties were reported from Jordan’s interception of the missiles, Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said.

The flare-ups on multiple fronts after several days of relative calm raised the risk of a return to all-out war.

It also underlined the difficulty of winding down a five-month conflict that has jolted the world economy and is unpopular among Americans.

The fighting was likely to add to concerns that the US is further drawing down already diminished stockpiles of sophisticated munitions needed to defend its bases and allies.

The new strikes came hours after US president Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran “very hard” after it targeted a base in Jordan that hosts US troops.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency said three people were killed and two were wounded in a strike on the island of Qeshm, which lies just off the Iranian mainland in the Strait of Hormuz.

The latest barrage came after the US partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Iran-backed militias in Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, British maritime security firm Ambrey said drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta on Wednesday.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strikes on a US-owned floating storage facility and a Greek-owned tanker. No injuries were reported.

The office of the Egyptian prime minister said initial investigations showed the fires on the two vessels had been caused by a drone.

Egypt, a close US ally and regional mediator, is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have been spared direct military action during the war. A strike by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict.

Asked during an Oval Office event if Iran was responsible for the strikes on the natural gas vessels, Mr Trump responded: “It’s a little more of the same.”

“In the meantime, we’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them,” he added.

Saudi Arabia had accused the Iraqi militias of firing drones against its oil facilities over the past days. An umbrella group of Iraqi militias initially denied the allegations, while another Iranian-backed group – the Houthi rebels in Yemen – said they had attacked Saudi energy facilities as part of a separate but related conflict.

Saudi defence minister Khalid bin Salman met separately on Wednesday with Mr Trump and US vice president JD Vance, sources said.

They said the Saudi decision to join the US attacks against the Iraqi militias was meant to send a message to Iran that it would not tolerate Iran or its proxies targeting the Saudi oil industry and other critical infrastructure.

At the same time, the defence minister reiterated to Mr Trump and Mr Vance that the Saudis want to see a de-escalation in the war and for Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations.

Before the latest eruption, mediators had expressed optimism about bringing the US and Iran back to the negotiating table. An interim agreement collapsed in recent weeks over renewed fighting in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy supplies that Iranian attacks have again effectively closed.

A regional official said mediators are “still trying with both sides” to restore calm and get the ceasefire back on track.

Saudi Arabia is also locked in a renewed conflict with the Houthis. The rebels have declared a blockade of Saudi shipping that could choke off another crucial Middle East trade route, the Bab el-Mandeb strait from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden.