The Defense Ministry of Kuwait confirmed on Thursday that Iran had conducted airstrikes against the country, resulting in “significant damage” to the headquarters of an unnamed Chinese company and at least one death.
Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched a wave of attacks against its neighbors between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, claiming to target American assets in the region. The IRGC especially boasted of an attack in Jordan that it claimed killed several American troops and destroyed U.S. fighter jets. The Pentagon has not confirmed the claims, while Jordanian officials denied that Iran’s attempts to bomb the country had resulted in any damage.
The IRGC also admitted to targeting Kuwait, but claimed that it had conducted attacks on American military targets in the small Gulf country. According to Iranian state media, its forces “destroyed two drone hangars, an aircraft fuel tank, and military helicopters, setting them on fire” in Kuwait.
The Kuwaiti government did not report any such activity. Instead, Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi said that the Iranian attacks targeted a Chinese company. China is a close ally of Iran’s, having facilitated its participation in the anti-American BRICS coalition, and its top oil client. No overt reason exists for the Iranians to target Chinese assets in the region.
According to the Kuwaiti Defense Ministry, the Iranians “targeted a building belonging to one of the Chinese companies in the north of the country, resulting in the death of one worker and causing significant material damage to the building.”
“The Armed Forces affirm their continued execution of their missions and duties with high efficiency, and the taking of all necessary measures to protect the sovereignty of the homeland,” the Kuwaiti statement continued, “preserve its security and stability, in coordination with the competent authorities, in a manner that preserves the safety of citizens and residents.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s transcript of its regular briefing on Thursday does not include any information or response to the report that its assets in Kuwait were targeted. The Chinese flagship state news outlet Xinhua reported that the company in question, which no party has named, did confirm the attack. According to the Chinese Embassy in Kuwait, the person who died was a Nepalese citizen, a driver working for the company. The embassy dismissed the severity of the attack, emphasizing that no Chinese citizens are believed to have been injured in the affair.
Kuwait is a member of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s global domination scheme in which it offers predatory loans to impoverished countries in exchange for its companies working on prohibitively expensive infrastructure projects, many of them never completed. Kuwait joined the BRI in 2014 and reaffirmed its commitment to the project last year, welcoming Chinese companies to invest in the country.
Iran is also a member of the BRI, arguably benefitting handsomely from the scheme. As part of its membership, Tehran signed a deal with China in 2021 that included a long-term, $400 billion investment into the country by Beijing. That money was meant to be invested into the country’s infrastructure, though at press time it is unclear how much, if any, of that money China has invested. President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to Iranian infrastructure have also complicated the risk factor for China.
The Chinese government has largely attempted to stay out of the current Middle East conflict, save for demanding that interruptions to commercial shipping cease. Iran has consistently threatened global commerce since March, shutting down the Strait of Hormuz and endangering shipments of oil and gas to China. While China is Iran’s largest oil buyer, it is also a major patron of the oil industries of Iran’s neighbors, prominently Saudi Arabia. Iranian disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and its terrorist proxy the Houthis in Yemen shutting down the Bab el-Mandeb Strait out of the Red Sea have limited Saudi Arabia’s ability to ship to Asia in the past month.
Despite these reasons for discord, the news agency Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous informed sources, that China was aiding Iran by shipping 400 domestically produced, shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missile kits. The report identified the equipment as up to 400 “Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS), including the advanced QW-12 model.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did address this report on Thursday, vehemently denying it.
“China has made its position clear on relevant issues on multiple occasions. The report is not true and has no factual ground at all. China always works for peace and the end of the conflict,” spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters.
President Trump also responded to the report on Wednesday, stating that genocidal dictator Xi Jinping had denied any interest in arming Iran during their most recent conversations.
“He told me very strongly he wouldn’t partake. But he knows I’d be quite disappointed,” Trump said, describing the report as “surprising.”
Xi Jinping is expected to visit the United States in September, following a visit by the American president to Beijing in May.