On Front Line Of Iran War, Kuwait Digs In For A Familiar Fight

Standing empty with dark scorch marks from a drone strike, Kuwait Petroleum Corp.'s waterfront headquarters is a symbol of the turmoil in the Gulf over the past six months. It's also emblematic of a country that knows what it's like to be on the front line.

After the tower was set ablaze in April, employees were shifted about 40 kilometers (25 miles) away to alternative premises in the south of Kuwait. By the end of July, the company was inking a $16 billion pipeline deal with North American firms, the largest foreign direct investment in Kuwait's history. 

Iranian strikes stirred up some familiar fears and exposed familiar vulnerabilities in the tiny petrostate. But as the Iran war approaches its seventh month with no lasting peace deal between President Donald Trump and Tehran, Kuwaitis are focused on keeping the economy running and uniting behind public displays of resilience.

This month saw the 36th anniversary of when Kuwait was overrun by the Iraqi military within hours, triggering the First Gulf War. It wounded the country in a way that it still hasn't been able to fully recover from. Yet the events are also what many Kuwaitis say galvanizes them.

After Feb. 28, when the US and Israel first struck the Islamic Republic, daily life was punctuated with retaliatory attacks by Iran and its proxies in Iraq. A report after the first few weeks of the war by the International Institute for Strategic Studies showed Kuwait was the most targeted of the Arab states after the United Arab Emirates - which said this week it has cut all economic ties with Iran after accusing Tehran of firing missiles at it - and more than Saudi Arabia and Qatar combined. 

In response, Kuwaitis were quick to donate blood, secure safe rooms in basements, buy generators and stockpile food and water. School classes moved online. The government secured ways to export oil and maintain business as usual.

In 1991, Iraq's retreating army set fire to over 600 oil wells, plunging Kuwait into the black of night on many days. This time, Kuwait kept some oil flowing to power electricity and desalination plants until it was able to ramp up output and send ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the main focal point of the war. 

People see the current conflict as the latest chapter in their fight for independence, said Bader Al-Saif, a historian at Kuwait University and an associate fellow at Chatham House. It's a struggle that has colored much of the nation's history, he said.

"Kuwait had to constantly manage external threats and contend with much larger, and at times more powerful, neighbors," Al-Saif said at a café in a suburb of Kuwait City. That intensified after the Iraqi invasion. "That trauma lingers especially with 308 missing persons, unresolved maritime borders with both Iran and Iraq, and the return to war in the past few months."

After being freed from Iraqi occupation by US-led forces, Kuwait became host to the American military and has been paying the price for its staunch comradeship with Washington. 

The bases were used as a launchpad for attacks in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, leaving Kuwait exposed to missiles from its former occupier. Two US military camps as well as Kuwaiti airbases were targeted since early in the current war.

But Iraq's 1990 invasion marked a starting point of Kuwaiti resistance, something that's now seared into the national psyche and sets the country apart from its Gulf neighbors.

In a bid to resist Iraqi rule, a domestic movement emerged whose operatives were engaged in sabotage operations, civil disobedience and an underground intelligence network at the risk of being tortured or executed. They issued fake identity cards for Westerners hiding from Iraqi forces. 

The spirit of defiance is evident when you arrive in Kuwait City. At the airport, passenger lines often snake from the entrance to check-in at a packed terminal built only for Kuwait Airways. Most operations were quickly shifted there after the concourse for international airlines was bombed for a second time.

Supermarket shelves remained stocked as supply chains were reinforced through neighboring Saudi Arabia and the UAE. There's been ample liquidity in the economy and malls are invariably packed with shoppers and diners. 

In spring, two friends wanted to create a symbol of unity for Kuwaitis to adopt by wearing badges. They chose the bright yellow Al-Arfaj desert flower. It's since been hung from cranes as well as worn on the lapels of Kuwaitis, including last month by the ambassador to the US, Sheikha Al-Zain Al-Sabah.

"Just like Kuwaitis, the Al-Arfaj flower is vibrant, it blooms in the harshest conditions, symbolizing resilience and rising under pressure," said Mohammad Sharaf, who designed and developed the idea initiated by his friend, Khaled Alfadala.

Damage is being done, of course. Kuwait is one of the richest countries in the world, underpinned by its $1 trillion-plus sovereign wealth fund, but the country has been shaken. Exports slumped after the Strait of Hormuz was closed, and the economy will contract by 7.9% in 2026, according to a Bloomberg News survey of nine economists in mid June.

The government, which spends four-fifths of its income on salaries for civil servants and subsidies, has tapped debt markets three times since last year after its budget deficit surged.

"Despite the severity of the shock, Kuwait's economy has weathered the crisis reasonably well thanks to a combination of strong sovereign buffers, effective policy intervention, and regional cooperation," said Daniel Kaye, chief economist at National Bank of Kuwait, one of the country's biggest lenders. "GDP will of course take a hit this year, but many of the activity indicators we monitor have bounced significantly off their initial lows."

Kuwait hasn't engaged directly with Iran, apart from a phone call in June between their foreign ministers following a memorandum of understanding on a US-Iran peace deal that subsequently collapsed.  

Some Kuwaitis say the current war has exposed that the decades-old alliance with the US won't always guarantee their protection. The US shuttered its embassy in Kuwait after it was hit during the war before reopening it in June.

Diplomatically, Kuwait has been forging closer ties with European and Arab allies to support its sovereignty and defenses. Kuwaitis are particularly concerned about militias backed by Iran in neighboring Iraq. 

Unsettled once again, some spoke of the need to transfer some savings abroad and, if possible, buy a property elsewhere, fearing an escalation in the war.

Officials are more optimistic. "By advancing a business environment built on trust, innovation and sustainable growth, Kuwait continues to attract long-term investment and advance sustainable economic transformation," said Sheikh Meshaal Al-Sabah, director general of the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority. He credited the country's perseverance to "strong economic fundamentals and progressive vision."

In central Kuwait City, the tower once occupied by the Public Institution for Social Security now serves as a reminder of what the country still faces. It's a burnt-out empty shell overlooking a main highway into the capital. The building was struck in March.

Yet, even with little respite from Iranian assault, Kuwait has remained a hive of business activity.

Kuwait Petroleum's transaction with Blackstone Inc., Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. and KKR & Co. involves a joint venture that will lease the rights to use KPC's pipelines. KPC expects it to generate $7.85 billion for Kuwait that will be used to fund the company's program to expand its oil output. 

Unlike Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which have export pipelines and alternatives, Kuwait relies entirely on the Strait of Hormuz. At the end of March, a fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker burned off the coast of Dubai after an Iranian strike.

"The future of energy security will be defined by resilience across the entire value chain," Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, KPC's CEO, said in an interview at the site where workers were decanted from the scorched HQ now under repair. "For KPC, this means building a more connected, flexible, and diversified energy system that keeps us as the trusted supplier to the world, whatever challenges lie ahead." 

Indeed, officials are determined to send the message they'd pushed for in the weeks before the war started: that Kuwait's open for business. 

Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson made a brief visit in July, in between one overnight attack and another onslaught hours after her departure. Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfield, was in Kuwait last month to meet with officials.

There's also been trust in national defenses, with 98% of missiles and drones being intercepted, according to a Kuwaiti defense official. People have become so accustomed to the sound of impending danger they ignore the sirens. 

Still, the latest conflict has cemented the deep-rooted angst felt since the Iraqi invasion for some Kuwaitis. The Iran conflict is now seen by many as a war of attrition, with no end in sight.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)