Iran Bombs Kuwait’s Oil Refinery Hours after Arab Nations Demand End to attacks in Region

Drone attacks on Kuwait, Israeli strikes on Tehran, and rising tensions in the Gulf spark fears of a global energy crisis. UAE arrests suspects in financial sabotage amid escalating conflict.

On Friday morning, an Iranian drone attack hit a Kuwaiti oil refinery, while sirens blared in Israel warning of incoming fire. Simultaneously, loud explosions were heard over Tehran, where Israeli strikes were underway as the country observed the Persian New Year.

This conflict, which has shaken the global economy, is now entering its third week. Iran doesn't seem to be backing down from its attacks on energy facilities in the Gulf region. Kuwait confirmed that two waves of drone strikes targeted its Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery, causing a fire that crews are working hard to contain.

This refinery, capable of processing around 730,000 barrels of oil daily, had already been damaged on Thursday in a separate Iranian assault. It's one of just three oil refineries in Kuwait, a small Gulf nation rich in oil.

Iran appears to have intensified its attacks on energy sites within Gulf Arab states following Israel's bombing of Iran's enormous South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf earlier in the week. Additionally, loud explosions could be heard in Jerusalem shortly after the Israeli military warned residents about incoming Iranian missiles.

In a rather uncommon public address, Iran's newly installed Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, declared that the nation's adversaries should have their "security" stripped away. Notably, Mojtaba Khamenei hasn't been seen in public since assuming leadership following the death of his father, the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike on the very first day of the ongoing conflict.

These comments were part of a statement issued on his behalf and directed to President Masoud Pezeshkian. This communication came after Israel's reported killing of Iran's Intelligence Minister, Esmail Khatib, earlier this week.

Massive explosions rocked Dubai just as the city's air defences took down incoming projectiles overhead. At that moment, people were celebrating Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the sacred Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and the city's mosques were ringing out the first call to prayer of the day.

Meanwhile, Bahrain's Interior Ministry reported that a fire broke out after shrapnel from a downed projectile struck a warehouse. In Saudi Arabia, officials confirmed they had shot down several drones that were aimed at the kingdom's oil-rich Eastern Province.