Iran said on Wednesday, September 2, that US strikes on its territory had killed 11 people, while a residential complex in Kuwait was hit by what authorities described as an enemy drone amid widening regional attacks.
Seven people were killed and eight wounded when US missiles struck three locations in the southwestern province of Khuzestan overnight, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported, citing the province’s deputy governor for security and law enforcement affairs.
The deaths followed a separate attack reported on Tuesday, September 1, in southern Sirik county, where the Iranian Red Crescent said four people, including a child, were killed and more than 50 wounded in a US attack at a wedding. The two incidents brought the reported death toll from the latest US strikes to 11.
Kuwait residential complex hit by drone
Firefighting teams in Kuwait contained a fire that broke out at a residential complex in the capital at dawn on Wednesday after the building was targeted by what authorities described as an enemy drone.
Brigadier General Mohammed Badar Ibrahim, spokesperson for the Public Fire Force, said teams from the Al Helali and Al Madeenah centres responded immediately and brought the blaze under control.
No injuries were reported, and the damage was limited to property, he said.
US reportedly strikes 100 targets and two Iranian tankers
The United States struck around 100 targets during raids on Tuesday, including Revolutionary Guard air defence sites, radar systems, mine-laying capabilities, communications sites, anti-ship cruise missile launchers and attack drone launchers, Axios reported, citing US officials.
The operation also included strikes on two Iranian government-owned tankers under a new “tanker-for-tanker” policy approved by President Donald Trump, according to Axios. The tankers were anchored off the Iranian coast, north of the US naval blockade line, when American drones fired missiles at their engine rooms. Axios described the attacks as the first time the US military had struck Iranian oil tankers in response to attacks on shipping in the strait.
US officials said the wider operation had weakened Iran’s offensive capabilities around Hormuz and could reduce threats to commercial vessels for at least a month. A spokesman for US Central Command said the military did not target civilians and was aware of casualty reports issued by Iranian official media.
Iran claims attacks on US assets across the region
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it carried out overnight attacks on US assets in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Erbil, in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, as part of its response to the latest American strikes.
Iran’s army separately said it targeted radar installations and assembly points of US forces at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain using intensive suicide drone attacks, according to state media.
Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said its offensive operations against the Americans would continue until they regretted their actions, warning that continued US aggression would draw stronger, wider and more destructive responses.
IRGC political deputy General Yadollah Javani also urged Arab countries to expel US forces and reclaim American bases, warning of what he described as a “crushing” response against any staging point used to attack Iran. He specifically named Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
US says Iranian retaliation caused no serious damage
US officials gave a sharply different account of the Iranian attacks. Axios reported that Iran launched about 25 ballistic missiles, with only around half reaching Jordanian airspace. Ten were intercepted and three fell without causing injuries, according to the officials.
Iran also launched about 20 drones at US bases in Bahrain, most of which were intercepted, while two drones aimed at a US base in Erbil were also shot down. Ballistic missiles and drones were reported to have targeted US bases in Kuwait.
A US official quoted by Axios said the Iranian response had failed and claimed Tehran had lost control of both the Strait of Hormuz and the conflict.
Separately, Fox News, citing a US official, reported that the majority of Iranian missiles and drones were intercepted. All American personnel were safe and accounted for, and no serious damage was inflicted on US bases in the Middle East, the official said.
The official added that Iran’s command-and-control structure was not centralised and that it remained unclear who had survived or been killed within the Revolutionary Guard, when asked who was directing continued attacks on commercial ships.
Bahrain issues repeated potential threat alerts
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry issued a third alert over a “potential threat” within six hours, urging citizens and residents to remain calm, proceed to the nearest safe location and follow updates through official channels.
Emergency sirens were also activated across the kingdom early on September 2 amid the regional escalation.
Bahrain’s Armed Forces said they had intercepted and destroyed a number of Iranian aerial attacks and that all weapons systems and units were at the highest level of readiness.
The military urged people not to approach unfamiliar or suspicious objects that could be remnants of the attacks and to report them immediately. It said personnel from the Royal Field Engineering Unit were ready to deal with such objects safely.
Trump rejects reports of push for negotiations
Trump denied reports that he was trying to force Iran back to the negotiating table.
In a post on Truth Social, he said he was not trying to compel Tehran into talks and did not care whether Iran signed an agreement it considered worthless. He said he preferred the current US position, claiming Washington had “almost total control” of the Strait of Hormuz while Iran’s economy was “totally collapsing”.
