Kuwait International Airport’s Terminal 1 passenger building was struck by hostile drones on Tuesday in Iran’s ongoing missile and drone offensive against the Gulf state, the Kuwaiti military confirmed.
It subsequently forced an immediate closure of the country’s airspace and triggering flight suspensions by multiple airlines including Indian carrier IndiGo.
In a statement, the official spokesman for Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense, Brigadier General Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, confirmed the strike and attributed it directly to Tehran.
“A number of hostile drones targeted today the passenger building (T1) at Kuwait International Airport as a result of the criminal Iranian aggression, which resulted in significant material damage to the building and injuries to a number of individuals, who received the necessary medical care,” the statement read.
The attack on a civilian aviation hub marks a significant and alarming escalation, taking the conflict beyond military installations and into infrastructure used daily by millions of travellers.
Kuwait International Airport is one of the busiest in the Gulf, handling both regional and international traffic including a large volume of flights to and from India.
IndiGo was among the first carriers to respond. In a travel advisory posted to its official X account, the airline announced: “In view of the ongoing airspace closure in Kuwait, our flight operations to and from Kuwait have been suspended until 1200 hrs on 4 June 2026.”
The airline added that the decision had been taken “with the safety and well-being of our customers and crew as our highest priority” and advised passengers to check flight status before proceeding to the airport. Affected travellers were directed to the airline’s website for rebooking assistance or a full refund.
The attack on the airport comes amid one of the broadest Iranian offensives against Gulf states since the conflict began, with Kuwait and Bahrain both targeted by ballistic missiles and drones in a salvo Iran framed as retaliation for U.S. strikes on Qeshm Island.
The targeting of a civilian terminal, however, represents a sharp and dangerous new threshold in a conflict that has so far focused primarily on military installations
