Iranian ballistic missile strikes US air base in Kuwait, wounding five and destroying an MQ-9 Reaper
Iran fired a Fateh-110 ballistic missile at the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait on Saturday, May 30; Kuwaiti air defenses intercepted it, but falling debris wounded five US military personnel and contractors, destroyed one MQ-9 Reaper drone and severely damaged a second, an estimated $60 million in losses. The strike landed 24 hours after President Donald Trump unveiled a US-brokered framework to extend a regional ceasefire by 60 days, a deal now thrown into doubt as commanders weigh retaliation. It raised to more than 1,850 the number of Iranian ballistic missiles fired since the war began on February 28.
An Iranian ballistic missile struck a major US military hub in Kuwait on Saturday, May 30, wounding five people and destroying high-value aircraft, according to Bloomberg. Iran deployed a Fateh-110 short-range, solid-fuel missile -- capable of carrying a roughly 500-kilogram high-explosive warhead -- against the Ali Al Salem Air Base.
Kuwaiti air-defense batteries engaged and intercepted the projectile before it reached its primary target, but the mid-air detonation sent heavy, mangled fragments raining down onto the base perimeter. The debris wounded approximately five people, including active-duty US military personnel and private civilian contractors working for the US armed forces; all reportedly sustained minor injuries and are receiving medical treatment.
While the personnel toll was limited, the wreckage caused severe, high-cost damage along the flight line. One MQ-9 Reaper, a multi-mission unmanned strike and reconnaissance aircraft, was caught in the immediate blast radius and completely obliterated; a second Reaper parked nearby sustained severe structural and electronic damage. With each Reaper carrying an estimated procurement value of $30 million, Bloomberg placed the baseline materiel damage at roughly $60 million. The launch raised the estimated total of Iranian ballistic missiles fired at regional targets since the outbreak of the war in late February to more than 1,850 projectiles.
The strike directly threatens a strategic memorandum of understanding that President Donald Trump unveiled on his Truth Social platform just 24 hours earlier, the product of weeks of backchannel negotiations mediated by regional brokers to end the active phase of the war. Its core framework extends by 60 days a regional ceasefire originally established on April 7, intended to buy time for international planners to settle permanent solutions to critical maritime and nuclear questions.
The conflict, which began on February 28, triggered a global energy crisis after Iran blocked the vital waterway that handles roughly 20 percent of global oil shipments. Under the pending agreement, Iran would clear its naval mine networks within 30 days in exchange for the US lifting the naval blockade it imposed on Iranian ports in mid-April. The framework also envisions a joint US-Chinese heavy-engineering mission to extract and neutralize enriched radioactive stockpiles trapped beneath underground research bunkers that US B-2 stealth bombers collapsed 11 months ago.
The Pentagon had already warned at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore that the US maintains vast strategic reserves and is fully prepared to resume large-scale global strikes if diplomacy fails. Trump's plan to wait for electronic verification that Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has personally signed off on the peace proposal is now under immediate duress as military commanders weigh potential retaliatory responses.