Iran fired missiles and drones overnight Tuesday at several Persian Gulf countries, including a drone strike that hit the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, as the regional conflict widened following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on X that two drones struck the U.S. Embassy, causing a limited fire and some material damage, according to an initial assessment. There were no reported injuries.
Three people familiar with the matter said a loud blast was heard and flames were seen at the embassy early Tuesday. Black smoke rose over Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, which houses foreign missions. Two of the people said the building was empty at the time, in the early morning hours, and one described the fire as minor.
The U.S. Embassy issued a “shelter in place” notice for American citizens in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dhahran, advising them to avoid the embassy until further notice because of the attack. An embassy spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters said it was not immediately able to independently confirm the circumstances of the incident.
President Donald Trump said the United States would soon respond to the attack on the embassy and to the killing of U.S. service members in Kuwait. “You’ll find out soon what the U.S. response will be,” he said, according to a NewsNation reporter posting on X.
The drone strike came amid ongoing Iranian missile and drone attacks on Gulf states that host U.S. military bases, following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday.
In addition to Saudi Arabia, Iran launched missiles nearly simultaneously toward Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, according to regional reports.
Since the start of the Israeli-led campaign against Iran, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has fired missiles and drones at a number of Gulf Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Tehran has said it is targeting those countries because they host U.S. forces that it claims are launching attacks against Iran from their territory. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he had spoken with several of his Gulf counterparts and said complaints should be directed at the United States and Israel.
Gulf states have rejected Iran’s claims and, so far, none has taken offensive action against Tehran.
The United Arab Emirates Defense Ministry said its air defenses were “dealing with a barrage of ballistic missiles from Iran” and stressed it was fully prepared “to confront any threats.” Kuwait reported intercepting missiles and drones over its territory. Qatar said two ballistic missiles were intercepted before exploding inside the country and denied reports that its interceptor stockpiles were running low.
Six US troops killed in Kuwait strike
New details also emerged overnight about the deaths of six U.S. service members since the start of the war.
CNN reported that the six were killed in a strike on a command center at the port of Shuaiba in Kuwait. U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Monday that the attack targeted a “hardened tactical operations center,” and that a single missile penetrated its air defenses.
Trump on Iran war
(Video: Reuters)
A person familiar with the incident told CNN the missile struck the structure directly, describing it as a large trailer-like building with office space inside. The strike occurred shortly after 9 a.m. local time and hit the center of the facility.
No sirens or warnings were sounded before the impact to instruct U.S. personnel to take shelter, the person said. Hours after the attack, parts of the structure were still burning, and sections of the trailer were torn apart by the force of the explosion.
U.S. Central Command initially reported Sunday that three service members had been killed. It was later announced that another soldier died of wounds, and on Monday officials said the total number of U.S. fatalities since the start of the war had risen to six.
Dozens of people were present at the site at the time of the strike, according to the person who spoke to CNN. Recovery efforts took considerable time, and the names of the dead have not yet been released.