Kuwait’s army said Thursday it was confronting hostile missile and drone attacks from Iran, as regional fallout from this week’s U.S. strikes on Tehran continued to spread. The military urged residents to follow security and safety instructions, adding that explosions heard in the country were caused by air defense systems intercepting hostile targets, according to a statement reported by CNBC.
The attack came just a day after President Donald Trump sought to reassure the public about the trajectory of the conflict, telling reporters he did not believe the war would last “very much longer” and questioning how much more punishment Iran could absorb. Trump characterized the Tuesday U.S. strikes as a “very heavy attack” and said Washington was prepared to launch further military operations “any time we want.”
Iran had already retaliated for the Tuesday strikes by targeting U.S. regional allies Jordan and Bahrain, according to CNBC. Kuwait now appears to be the latest target, underscoring the widening geographic scope of the confrontation beyond the initial U.S.-Iran exchange.
White House seeks to contain escalation ahead of midterms
The military action comes as top aides to Trump push to keep the conflict from escalating before November’s midterm elections, Reuters reported. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are reportedly trying to keep the Iran war relatively “quiet” until the vote is over, according to four people familiar with the discussions cited by Reuters.
The effort to contain the conflict appears aimed at limiting Republican losses at the ballot box, as the war grows increasingly unpopular with American voters. A University of Massachusetts Amherst poll of 1,000 respondents conducted in August found broad disapproval of Trump’s handling of the Iran conflict, with the university noting that “more than two-thirds” of respondents disapprove of how the president has managed the war, and “nearly as many” disapprove of his overall job performance.
Trump, however, pushed back against the notion that politics were driving his decisions. Speaking Wednesday, he said he was not affected by the midterm elections but planned to help the Republican Party, which he said “respects the fact that we’re not allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
At a later event in the Rose Garden, Trump offered a broader justification for the conflict, saying, “We’re doing that not for any other reason, or at least 99%, we’re doing it to help the Middle East, we’re doing it to help Israel, and we’re doing it to help ourselves.”
The situation remains fluid, with Kuwait’s military actively engaged in intercepting incoming threats and no sign of an immediate de-escalation. The divergent messages — Trump’s confident prediction of a short war versus his aides’ reported efforts to manage the political fallout — highlight the delicate balance the administration is trying to strike as the conflict enters its third day.
Source: www.cnbc.com — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/03/us-iran-war-trump-hormuz-israel-middle-east-europe-kuwait.html
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