Watch: Video Released of Attack on Kuwait Airport
Drone strike footage challenges Iran’s narrative on Kuwait Airport attack amidst rising Gulf tensions.
- Publish date: since 12 hour Reading time: two min read
New video evidence has emerged challenging Iran's official narrative regarding the deadly attack on Kuwait International Airport on Wednesday. While Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed the damage to Terminal 1 was caused by a malfunctioning US Patriot missile, CCTV footage analyzed by open-source intelligence experts depicts a low-flying drone slamming directly into the passenger terminal.
Multiple camera angles captured the unmanned aerial vehicle, identified by its distinct shape and trajectory as an Iranian Shahed-136 "kamikaze" drone, approaching from the east before impacting the structure. The footage shows the drone in its final dive phase, followed by a massive explosion and smoke plume.
"The Aerospace Force did not target Kuwait Airport," an IRGC spokesman stated via Iranian state media, asserting that a US-made Patriot system failed to intercept Iranian projectiles and fell onto the terminal instead. However, investigators recovered an MD550 engine—the primary propulsion unit for the Shahed-136—from the debris field, contradicting the claim that the impact was solely a falling interceptor.
Social media analysts and regional observers have pointed to the drone's specific flight path and characteristics as inconsistent with a falling missile. "The visual evidence makes the Patriot explanation difficult to sustain," noted prominent analyst Mario Nawfal in a viral post analyzing the footage.
Read More: 63 Injured in Attack on Kuwait Airport
The incident occurred amidst escalating regional tensions, with Iran launching missile and drone barrages at US military facilities in the Gulf in retaliation for recent US strikes. While Tehran has claimed successful strikes on US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, US Central Command reported intercepting most incoming threats.
Kuwait's Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) activated its emergency plan immediately following the strike, which left at least one person dead and over 60 wounded. The attack has drawn sharp condemnation from regional governments and further complicated the fragile ceasefire dynamics in the Middle East.
As Kuwait works to restore normal operations at the airport, the conflicting accounts between the visual evidence and Tehran's denial underscore the "fog of war" characterizing the ongoing confrontation between the US and Iran.