Kuwait says Iranian drone attacks have damaged two power and water desalination plants and sparked fires at two oil facilities but have not caused injuries.
Gulf countries have borne the brunt of Tehran’s response to the US and Israeli strikes on Iran since February 28.
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Fatima Abbas Johar Hayat, a spokesperson for Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy, said on Sunday that the “criminal aggression” caused “serious material damage” overnight to the two plants and the outage of two electricity-generating units.
The attacks are the latest to target civilian infrastructure in Kuwait. Other drone attacks overnight caused a fire at the Shuwaikh Oil Sector Complex and “significant damage” to a government office complex, though “no human casualties were recorded”.
Reporting from Kuwait City, Al Jazeera’s Malika Traina referred to the attacks as “devastating news” because “water desalination here and across the Gulf is extremely important. In Kuwait, around 90 percent of the country’s drinking water comes from these plants.”
Later on Sunday, the Kuwait Petroleum Corp reported “significant material losses” after Iranian drone attacks on several of its facilities, according to the KUNA news agency.
The attacks resulted in fires at several facilities, it said, adding that firefighters were deployed to prevent the blazes from spreading to other facilities. No injuries were reported, it added.
Alongside the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait has been at the “epicentre” of Iranian attacks over the past few days, Al Jazeera’s Victoria Gatenby said, reporting from Doha, Qatar.
“The concern here in the region is that if [US] President [Donald] Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, follow through on those threats to escalate attacks on Iran, the result may be that Tehran attacks similar facilities here in the Gulf,” Gatenby said.
Gulf patience ‘not unlimited’
Bahrain also faced Iranian attacks on Sunday.
Bahrain’s Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co said several of its units were subjected to an attack by Iranian drones while, earlier in the day, the country’s national oil company, Bapco Energies, said an oil tank at one of its storage facilities was hit.
Both attacks caused fires, but they were later brought under control and extinguished, Bahraini media reported.
No casualties were reported in either attack, and damage from both was being assessed.
Earlier, Bahrain’s Ministry of the Interior reported on the Bapco Energies fire without specifying where the blaze had broken out.
The Interior Ministry said civil defence crews “extinguished a fire in the facility” that broke out “as a result of the Iranian aggression”.
The announcement came an hour after Bahrain activated air raid sirens.
Authorities in neighbouring Abu Dhabi on Sunday also said they responded to several fires that broke out at the Borouge petrochemical plant and were caused by falling debris from the interception of an air attack.
“Operations at the plant have been immediately suspended pending a damage assessment,” a statement issued by the Abu Dhabi Media Office said.
No injuries have been reported so far, it added.
The UAE’s official news agency WAM later reported that authorities were responding with an incident after the Khor Fakkan port in the Gulf of Oman was targeted.
British maritime security agency UKMTO said “splashes from unknown projectiles” had been reported close to one container ship while it was loading in the key port near the Strait of Hormuz.
In peace time, about 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through the strategic waterway that links the Gulf to the Indian Ocean.
In comments released to the media, UAE presidential advisor Anwar Gargash said Abu Dhabi was ready to “join any American-led effort, international effort to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz”.
The Omani state news agency meanwhile reported that Oman and Iran had held talks on easing passage through the strait.
“The experts from both sides put forward a number of visions and proposals regarding it,” it said.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, intercepted missiles early on Sunday, the kingdom said.
“Iran has said that it is only really attacking US military bases and US assets in the region, but we know from what’s been happening over the past five weeks and from what Gulf leaders have been saying that they have very much been targeting civilian infrastructure and critical energy infrastructure in this region as well,” Gatenby said.
She said that while Gulf countries have shown “incredible restraint” in the face of attacks over the past five weeks, it is not because they lack the ability to respond and, increasingly, countries are talking about the fact that their patience is not unlimited.
Saudi Arabia, in particular, has been talking in the past week about its right to self-defence under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, she said.
“The GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries continue to say their main priority is de-escalation and dialogue, but some others have been saying this defensive posture may have to change if they continue to be attacked,” Gatenby reported.