Iran launched attacks across the Middle East on April 3, setting parts of a major Kuwaiti oil refinery ablaze and triggering air defense responses across the Gulf, as the war with the United States and Israel neared the end of its fifth week.
The refinery has been targeted several times since the war began and state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said firefighters were working to put out multiple fires from the strikes. Electricity, water, and renewable energy infrastructure in Kuwait were also hit in the attack.
Tehran continued to keep the pressure on Israel and its other Gulf Arab neighbors. Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed several Iranian drones, air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain, defenses were activated in the United Arab Emirates, and Israel reported incoming missiles.
Iran also said that is shot down a US F-35 fighter jet. Multiple Iranian state media outlets, including Press TV, published the images along with a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as evidence of a downed US jet in central Iran. The United States has not commented and RFE/RL has not been able to independently confirm the claim.
The latest wave of Iranian attacks follow comments from US President Donald Trump late on April 2 where he signaled further escalation, saying Washington had “not even started” its campaign against Iran and warning that more strikes on infrastructure were imminent, even as diplomatic efforts to contain the war showed little progress.
“The US hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran,” he wrote in a series of social media posts, adding that targets could include bridges and power plants. “Iran’s leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!”
He also shared video of a US strike on a newly built bridge linking Tehran and the nearby city of Karaj. Iranian state media said the attack killed eight people and wounded 95. Iranian media said a separate drone strike hit a Red Crescent warehouse in the southern province of Bushehr, destroying two containers. The port city is a key maritime hub and home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.
Iran also reported that the Pasteur Institute, a medical research center, suffered heavy damage in an attack. That report also could not be verified, although the Iranian government released a photo purporting to show the damage.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi condemned the strike, saying attacks on civilian infrastructure “will not compel Iranians to surrender.”
UN Security Council Focuses On The Strait of Hormuz
The latest exchange of attacks underscores how the war, which began with coordinated US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, is expanding across the region, disrupting global energy flows and raising pressure on world powers to secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for oil and gas supplies.
The United Nations Security Council is expected to meet on April 4 to consider a proposal from Bahrain aimed at ensuring safe passage through the strait.
An initial draft that would have authorized countries to “use all necessary means” to secure the waterway has faced resistance from veto-wielding members Russia, China, and France, leading to a delay in holding the session.
"The use of force cannot bring peace. Political settlement is the fundamental way forward," Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong told the Security Council on April 2.
Iran has continued to target energy infrastructure across the Gulf while maintaining pressure on shipping routes through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies pass in peacetime.
Oil markets have reacted sharply and sent prices climbing. Shipping through the strait, once a stable corridor for global trade, has been increasingly disrupted.
Trump has said it is not the responsibility of the United States to reopen the waterway, urging countries that rely on the route to take action themselves.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on April 2 called for an end to the "spiral of death and destruction" in the Middle East.
"We are on the edge of a wider war that would engulf the whole Middle East with dramatic impacts around the globe," Guterres told reporters in New York.
Guterres cited the dangers of the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has brought shipping to a near standstill, creating a bottleneck of oil and natural gas tankers, which has led to a global energy crisis.
"When the Strait of Hormuz is strangled, the world's poorest and most vulnerable cannot breathe," Guterres said.
