Yemen Condemns Iranian Missile and Drone Attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain

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The Republic of Yemen has strongly condemned recent Iranian missile and drone strikes targeting Kuwait and Bahrain, describing the attacks as a serious threat to the stability and security of the Gulf region. In a statement attributed to its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the internationally recognised government framed the assaults as flagrant violations of national sovereignty and a danger to regional peace, and it expressed solidarity with the two Gulf states.

The condemnation came as the strikes formed part of a wider confrontation that has come to be known as the 2026 Iran war. The latest attacks followed United States strikes on Iranian targets, after which Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had launched ballistic missiles and drones at sites in the Gulf. The exchange has placed renewed strain on a fragile ceasefire that the parties had reached earlier in the month, raising fears of a broader regional spiral. The conflict, which erupted earlier in 2026, has already produced several rounds of retaliation in which Iran has struck targets in more than one Gulf country, and each new exchange has made the task of restoring calm more difficult for the mediators involved.

In Kuwait, authorities said they had detected and intercepted two ballistic missiles, reporting no casualties or damage from that particular barrage. The country, which hosts a major United States military presence, had already been struck earlier in the month, when Iranian drones hit near its international airport in an incident that killed one person. The repeated targeting of Kuwaiti territory has underlined how exposed the small Gulf state has become to the fallout from the conflict.

Bahrain, home to the headquarters of the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet, also reported being hit. Its authorities said an Iranian strike had damaged a residential building near the international airport, though no one was reported killed. The proximity of the damage to civilian infrastructure and a busy airport reinforced concerns among Gulf governments about the risks the attacks pose to ordinary residents and to commercial aviation.

In its statement, Yemen characterised the strikes as a deliberate and dangerous escalation in what it described as Iran’s efforts to extend its influence across the Gulf. The ministry argued that the frequency and nature of the incidents pointed to a coordinated strategy rather than isolated acts, and said Tehran was combining advanced weaponry, including ballistic missiles and drones, with its network of allied armed groups to pursue its strategic aims. It warned that this approach threatened not only the governments of the targeted states but also wider international peace, particularly along vital maritime and air routes.

Yemen’s position carries a particular resonance given its own circumstances. The internationally recognised government has long accused Iran of backing the Houthi movement, which controls much of northern Yemen and has launched its own missile and drone attacks during the years of war. Seen from Aden, the strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain echo a pattern the Yemeni authorities say they have experienced directly, and the condemnation aligns Yemen firmly with its Gulf partners, especially the states that have supported the anti-Houthi coalition.

The attacks have drawn a broad chorus of criticism across the region. Gulf governments have condemned the strikes on Bahrain and Kuwait, and several Middle Eastern states have voiced alarm at the targeting of civilian areas and critical infrastructure. The collective response reflects a shared anxiety that the conflict between Iran and the United States could increasingly draw in neighbouring countries that host American forces or sit close to the main theatres of fighting. For these governments, the central fear is that they could be drawn ever deeper into a war they did not start, simply by virtue of their geography and their security ties with Washington.

Much of the danger is concentrated around the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a large share of the world’s oil passes. Efforts to keep shipping moving through the strait amid the hostilities have triggered repeated clashes, and a multinational maritime body overseen by the United States Navy has moved to adjust shipping routes to reduce the risk to commercial traffic. Any sustained disruption there would carry consequences far beyond the Gulf, given the global economy’s dependence on energy supplies routed through the region.

Iran, for its part, has threatened to halt negotiations aimed at ending the war if Washington continues its strikes, signalling that the cycle of attack and retaliation may not ease soon. That threat has added to the uncertainty surrounding the ceasefire, which has been tested repeatedly since it was announced and which now appears increasingly precarious.

For Yemen, the episode is a reminder that its own conflict is bound up with the broader struggles reshaping the Middle East. By condemning the attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain, the government in Aden has sought to position itself as a responsible regional actor and to reinforce its ties with Gulf states whose support it relies upon. Whether such statements translate into concrete coordination remains to be seen, but they underscore how closely Yemen’s future is tied to the stability of a region now living under the shadow of a widening war.