Iran hits Kuwaiti oil refinery and explosions boom over Tehran from Israeli attack
A general view of Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery in Kuwait, Friday, March 20, 2026. (AP Photo) A general view of Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery in Kuwait, Friday, March 20, 2026. (AP Photo)
By JON GAMBRELL and DAVID RISING / Associated Press 7 min read
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Kuwaiti oil refinery came under Iranian drone attack early Friday and sirens in Israel warned of incoming fire, while explosions boomed over Tehran from Israeli strikes as the country marked the Persian New Year.
The war that has rocked the global economy neared the end of its third wee k with Iran showing no signs of letting up on its attacks on Gulf region energy structure. Kuwait said two waves of drone strikes at its Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery sparked a fire and crews were working to control the blaze.
The refinery, which can process some 730,000 barrels of oil per day, was already damaged Thursday in another Iranian attack. It is one of three oil refineries in Kuwait, a tiny, oil-rich nation on the Persian Gulf.
Residents inspect a house damaged yesterday by a projectiles launched from Lebanon in Nahariya, northern Israel, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)A man photographs a building damaged by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)Israeli security forces inspect an apartment struck by an Iranian missile that killed two people in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)A Middle East Airlines plane takes off from Rafik Hariri International Airport as smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)A building collapses as smoke rises following an Israeli strike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)FILE – Commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)FILE – Ali Larijani, center, head of Iran’s National Security Council, gestures as Hezbollah supporters throw rice to welcome him outside Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Bushehr, Iran, Dec. 7, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)Missiles launched from Iran streak across the sky over central Israel, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)FILE – Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib attends the inauguration ceremony of the 6th term of the Assembly of Experts in Tehran, Iran, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)An explosion erupts from a building following an Israeli strike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)Israeli authorities hang Israeli and U.S. flags at the site struck by an Iranian missile that killed two people, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)Smoke and flame rise from a residential building following an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Iran stepped up its attacks on energy sites in Gulf Arab states after Israel on Wednesday bombed Iran’s massive South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf.
Loud explosions could also be heard in Jerusalem after the Israeli army warned of incoming Iranian missiles.
