On 19 July, Iran carried out a second wave of attacks on Kuwaiti territory within two days, hitting both civilian infrastructure and military sites, according to official statements from Tehran, Kuwait City and Washington. Iranian state broadcaster IRIB announced that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had launched large‑scale drone strikes against US ammunition depots at Camp Udairi and Patriot radar and air‑defence systems at Ali Al Salem air base. Simultaneously, Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy reported that a power generation and desalination plant had been struck for the second time, causing a fire that damaged numerous generating units. The ministry activated emergency plans and urged citizens to reduce electricity consumption while technical crews worked to restore stability to the national grid.

From Tehran, the strikes were presented as retaliation for weeks of US aerial assaults on Iranian territory. A senior commander at the Khatam al‑Anbiya Central Headquarters warned that any further “aggression or intimidation” would meet a “crushing and devastating response.” Iranian officials also accused Washington of reneging on a Pakistan‑brokered memorandum of understanding signed in June that had been intended to de‑escalate hostilities. Kuwait’s armed forces confirmed they were intercepting hostile missiles and drones and called on the public to comply with all security directives, though they did not initially specify whether the fiery explosions residents heard came from intercepted projectiles or direct hits. The Gulf state’s foreign ministry had earlier condemned Iranian attacks as a “dangerous escalation” violating sovereignty and vowed to take “all necessary measures” to protect national security.

Washington, for its part, announced fresh strikes against southern Iran on 18 July, targeting what CENTCOM described as sites used to “further degrade military capability.” The US operation was itself a response to an Iranian missile and drone salvo on a Jordanian position that killed two American soldiers and left a third missing – the first US military fatalities since the current round of hostilities erupted. These back‑and‑forth blows mark a sharp deterioration from the fragile truce attempted in June, with CENTCOM acknowledging that more than 300 targets inside Iran had been hit since late February, when President Donald Trump ordered what he called a “large‑scale military operation” against Iranian nuclear, naval and missile infrastructure.

Viewed from Western capitals, the widening of the battlefield to include Kuwaiti power and water facilities – on which the desert nation depends heavily – signals a deliberate Iranian effort to raise the costs for Washington’s Gulf partners and to test alliance cohesion. Analysts in London note that, unlike in previous rounds, Iran is openly threatening to strike civilian utilities across the region if its own infrastructure is targeted. With Kuwait’s airspace already closed and its international airport damaged earlier in the cycle, the immediate concern is the resilience of critical water and electricity networks. Diplomatically, the path back to dialogue appears blocked: Tehran has formally suspended its commitments under the June memorandum, and no new mediation initiative has been announced. The next steps are likely to include further American strikes on Iranian positions and Iranian‑linked facilities in the Gulf, while regional governments brace for more cross‑border projectiles.