Iran strikes Kuwait as Trump says renewed Mideast hostilities will not last 'too long'

Kuwait’s army on Thursday said it was confronting hostile missile and drone attacks from Iran, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said that renewed hostilities in the Middle East would not last “too long.”

Kuwait advised residents to follow security and safety instructions, adding that any explosions heard in the country were due to air defense systems intercepting hostile targets. The strikes were targeted at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Iranian state media outlet IRIB said.

“I don’t think it will [war] be very much longer … I don’t know how much more they [Iran] can take,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday, describing the American strikes against Iran on Tuesday as a “very heavy attack,” adding that the U.S. was prepared for further military operations “any time we want.”

Iran had retaliated after the Tuesday strikes, targeting U.S. regional allies Jordan and Bahrain.

Reuters reported that top aides to Trump were pushing to keep the Iran war from escalating before November’s midterm elections. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary ​of State Marco Rubio are trying to keep the Iran conflict relatively “quiet” until the elections are over, the outlet reported.

Citing four people familiar with the discussions, Reuters said this was to limit Republican losses due to the conflict, which is proving increasingly unpopular with Americans.

A University of Massachusetts Amherst poll of 1,000 respondents in August found more than two-thirds disapproved of Trump’s handling of the war, and “nearly as many now express disapproval in how he is handling his job overall,” the university said.

Trump also said Wednesday that, while he was not on the ballot at the midterm elections, he was going to help the Republican Party, which he said “respects the fact that we’re not allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

“We’re doing that not for any other reason, or at least 99%, we’re doing it to help the Middle East, we’re doing it to help Israel, and we’re doing it to help ourselves,” Trump said at a later event in the Rose Garden, referring to the Iran conflict.

— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.