DUBAI:

An Iranian drone strike on a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s international airport killed an Indian citizen and wounded 63 people on Wednesday, as conflict flared between Tehran and US forces in the Gulf.

Kuwait’s military condemned the strike as an act of “criminal Iranian aggression”, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guards accused US forces of provoking a response by targeting a tanker and a communications tower on the country’s Qeshm Island.

The attacks constitute one of the more severe tests yet of a fragile April 8 ceasefire that paused more than a month of war sparked by the US-Israeli bombing of Iran, and has largely held despite sporadic exchanges of fire.

India’s foreign ministry confirmed that one of its nationals was killed and several others were wounded in the airport strike.

The attacks are the latest to test a shaky ceasefire, sending oil prices up nearly 2%, as the strait remains largely closed more than three months after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi has condemned Iranian attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait, calling them a “dangerous and unprecedented escalation”, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, Albudaiwi denounces the attacks on “civilian objects, infrastructure, headquarters and diplomatic missions” in the two Gulf states.

He adds that the attacks constitute a “dangerous and unprecedented escalation” and reflect the “Iranian regime’s insistence on pursuing rejected hostile policies targeting the security, stability and sovereignty of the GCC states”.

Albudaiwi further says that the continued attacks demonstrate Iran’s persistence in pursuing policies aimed at undermining regional security “in blatant defiance of international law, the UN Charter and all international norms”.

Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways later resumed flights after taking safety measures, the civil aviation authority said.

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said they did not fire at Kuwait’s airport and blamed the destruction on US interceptor missiles that failed to hit their targets, according to Iranian state media.

The US military said that was not accurate, and that Iranian drones targeted the airport deliberately.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told lawmakers that Washington’s military campaign against Iran, codenamed “Operation Epic Fury”, has concluded and that any subsequent American military action will be defensive in nature rather than part of an ongoing offensive operation.

Rubio made the remarks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing when members of Congress questioned the administration’s assessment of the conflict and its aftermath.

During the hearing, Rubio announced, “We’re no longer conducting sustained strikes inside of Iran to degrade their military, because Epic Fury is over.”

According to the secretary, the United States had destroyed Iran’s defence industrial base, significantly reduced its missile launchers and drone stockpile, destroyed what remained of its air force and wiped out its conventional navy.

“Those are all gone,” Rubio said. “So, I consider that victory, and we did, too. And that was the purpose of Epic Fury.”

Earlier, Iranian media reported the Revolutionary Guards had attacked the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and a US airbase, as well as a vessel identified as Panaya. US Central Command denied its bases had been hit and said Iranian ballistic missiles failed to strike their targets in the region.

CENTCOM said it had carried out a new round of “defensive strikes” in southern Iran, targeted missile launch sites and Iranian boats seeking to lay mines, and conducted strikes on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz after attempted Iranian attacks.

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says that Tehran will meet any attack with a strong response, AFP reports, citing local media, after its Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted Kuwait in retaliation for US attacks.

“Today, the Iranian nation, in its battle with America and the Zionist regime, showed that the era of free-of-charge Iran threats is over and that any aggression will be met with a decisive, regrettable, and proportionate response,” Ghalibaf says, according to local news agency ISNA.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Wednesday that any attack on Beirut would trigger a “full-scale resumption” of the Middle East war, as Israel pressed its campaign against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Iran has repeatedly insisted that any deal to end the wider Middle East war—which its ally Hezbollah joined on March 2 — must also halt the fighting in Lebanon.

“The fate of the war between Iran and the Zionists (Israel) and Americans is inseparable from the fate of the battle in Lebanon, and these two fronts have been intertwined since day one,” Iranian news agencies quoted Araghchi as telling Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV.

“Any attack on Beirut will have grave consequences and will lead to a full-scale resumption of the war,” he continued, adding Iran’s “armed forces are ready to strike Israel if it attacks Beirut”.

He also insisted that for the war in Lebanon to end, Israeli forces must get out of the country.

“The end of the war in Lebanon also means the end of the occupation. That is, the end of the war must be accompanied by the withdrawal of the Zionist regime’s forces from the areas they have occupied,” he told the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese broadcaster.

His comments came as Israeli and Lebanese diplomats were to hold a second day of direct talks in Washington.

They are part of a fourth round of talks since the fighting in Lebanon erupted when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.

Hezbollah is sharply opposed to the direct negotiations.

Speaking ahead of the talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US broadcaster CNBC that he and Trump shared the goal “to disarm Hezbollah and… to demilitarise Lebanon”.

Trump, who is under pressure to bring down US fuel prices, has said his top priority is to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes. In a podcast interview released on Wednesday, Trump said Iran had agreed to not have a nuclear weapon and that Khamenei was involved in negotiations.

The war has killed thousands, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, while causing global economic pain by severely disrupting energy supplies and other shipping.

It also sparked the latest round of conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

On Wednesday, Israeli drone strikes killed at least six people in southern Lebanon and targeted a car just south of Beirut, Lebanese security sources said, while Israel said it intercepted a hostile aircraft likely fired by Hezbollah.

Araqchi said Iran would respond decisively if Israel attacks Beirut.

In his podcast comments, Trump acknowledged having called Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” during a reportedly expletive-filled phone exchange over the fighting in Lebanon as he sought a deal over the wider war.

“At some point I said, Bibi, we got to stop this. We got to stop it,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

Netanyahu told CNBC in an interview that he and Trump sometimes had “tactical disagreements” but that they agreed on the main issues concerning Iran.