Americans Hurt in Kuwait Attack as Trump's Mixed Signals Stall Iran Ceasefire Talks

An Iranian ballistic missile was intercepted over a Kuwaiti air base within the past day, but the debris that fell afterward hurt about five people, according to a person with direct knowledge of the attack who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details are not public. The injured included both contractors and active-duty personnel. Their injuries were described as minor.

The damage to equipment was heavier. One MQ-9 Reaper strike drone was destroyed and at least one other was seriously damaged. The drones cost about $30 million each. U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the attack.

The strike came while talks to extend the ceasefire with Iran dragged on without a conclusion. Trump had suggested earlier in the week that a deal was near. Then a two-hour Situation Room meeting on Friday ended with no announcement, the latest in a run of conflicting signals from Washington. The ceasefire has largely held, though the U.S. military separately reported disabling a Gambia-flagged ship bound for an Iranian port. Central Command said a U.S. aircraft fired a Hellfire missile into the vessel's engine room on Friday after the crew ignored more than 20 warnings. The ship was part of the Navy blockade policing the Strait of Hormuz.

The diplomacy has moved in fits. On Thursday, U.S. officials confirmed that negotiators had reached a memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and open further talks on the nuclear issue, pending Trump's approval. Hours later, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to acknowledge a tentative deal, and Vice President JD Vance told reporters the sides were still going back and forth on a couple of language points. In a social media post on Friday, Trump repeated that Iran must never develop nuclear weapons and must reopen Hormuz without tolls, but he did not say whether Iran had agreed.

Bessent has laid out three red lines: Iran reopening the strait, surrendering its highly enriched uranium, and ending its nuclear program. A White House official said Friday that Trump will make only a deal that meets those demands. In prepared remarks in California, Bessent also suggested some sanctions on Iran could be lifted, depending on how the standoff develops. "Everything depends on what the president wants to do," he said.

Iran's position is harder to read. On Friday, state media said the memorandum was not finalized and had changed in recent days. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran has "no trust in guarantees or words" and that no action will be taken before the other side acts. On Saturday, Iranian state TV reported a new draft that it called unofficial and not finalized. It said the draft would give Iran "exclusive authority to determine the nature of transiting vessels" in the strait, a point the U.S. is unlikely to accept. Trump once floated a joint U.S.-Iranian venture to manage traffic, and this week said no single country would control the strait but that the U.S. would "watch over" it. The Iranian account also said the U.S. committed to give Iran access to $12 billion in frozen funds within 60 days, sent directly to Iranian banks without restrictions. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that report.

Pressure is building at home. The conflict, which Trump has called an "excursion," has run well past its projected four to six weeks. Polls show Americans disapprove of it, and soaring gasoline prices are heightening economic worries. Trump has said publicly that he does not care about the political strain, and he denies that the war is the kind of quagmire he has long warned against. Markets have whipsawed on the shifting rhetoric, yet hopes for an extension pushed stocks toward a historic streak of weekly gains.

What to watch now is whether the ceasefire survives the sporadic attacks, and whether the gaps over Hormuz, enriched uranium and the frozen funds can close before the memorandum falls apart.