US authorises sale of $2b in anti-drone weapons to Kuwait

WASHINGTON, United States, June 6 (AFP): The United States announced Friday its approval of a $1.98 billion arms sale to Kuwait, one of the Gulf countries hit by Iranian strikes during the Middle East war.
In a statement, the US State Department said it would allow purchases of counter-drone technology from defense company Anduril, which was founded by a supporter of President Donald Trump.
"This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a major non-NATO ally that has been an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East," the statement said.
Earlier this week, Kuwait officials "condemned Iranian aggression" when a drone strike on its international airport killed one person and injured 63 others.
Tehran denied involvement in the attack, saying it was "an error in the American Patriot systems," referring to a US anti-missile battery.
The attacks came despite the April 8 ceasefire that paused the war sparked by the February 28 US-Israeli bombing of Iran, and has largely held despite sporadic exchanges of fire.
Meanwhile, Iran still has "21, 22 percent" of its missiles left, US President Donald Trump said Friday, in a week in which Tehran fired dozens of them toward regional neighbors, despite a sputtering ceasefire.
"They still have capacity. They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say, percentage wise, maybe 21, 22 percent of their missiles," Trump told NBC News in an interview.
That figure for Iran's missile stockpile is higher than one of 18 percent Trump gave in May. He has often claimed to have completely destroyed Iran's war-fighting capacity.
Iran's military said Friday it had fired "warning missiles" at two US destroyers in the Gulf of Oman -- a claim promptly denied by the US military. Two days earlier, Kuwait said it had intercepted 30 ballistic missiles fired as part of "heinous Iranian aggression."