Reports: Bahrain and Kuwait sent fighter jets to strike targets inside Iran for the first time

According to a Fortune report on Saturday, 25 July 2026, Bahrain and Kuwait secretly sent fighter jets to strike targets inside Iran earlier in July, the first direct attacks by the two countries on Iranian soil in the current war. According to published reports, the strikes targeted drone and missile storage depots and a number of other military sites.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had attacked Iran in earlier phases of the war. Bahrain and Kuwait have been hit repeatedly by Iranian missiles and drones in recent weeks and, according to these reports, were unwilling to leave those attacks unanswered. Both countries have relatively small air forces equipped with US and European aircraft.

A widening circle of combatants in the Persian Gulf is one of the factors keeping the risk premium in global oil prices elevated, a variable that feeds into Iran's economy through inflation expectations and the currency market. Brent crude passed 100 dollars a barrel on Thursday, 23 July, for the first time since late May, and gave back part of that gain on Friday, 24 July.