The U.S. military struck Iranian radar and drone control sites inside Iran after Tehran shot down an American MQ-1 Predator drone over the weekend, the military said Sunday, June 1, 2026.
Kuwait confirmed Monday, June 2, that its air defense systems opened fire — a sign the confrontation had already begun drawing in neighboring countries along the Persian Gulf.
The strikes
U.S. forces targeted Iranian radar installations and drone control infrastructure. The Pentagon said the strikes came in direct response to Iran downing the MQ-1 Predator, an unmanned surveillance and strike aircraft the U.S. military has deployed across the region for years.
No further details on the scope of the U.S. strikes — how many sites were hit, what munitions were used, or whether any personnel were killed — had been released as of the time of the NPR report.
Iran hasn’t publicly acknowledged the U.S. strikes on its territory.
Kuwait’s announcement that its air defenses engaged targets Monday, June 2, raised immediate questions about the direction of the conflict. The country sits just south of Iraq and borders the Persian Gulf — it didn’t specify what it fired on, or what the outcome was.
The weekend shoot-down of the Predator drone was the trigger the U.S. cited for its military response, though the circumstances under which Iran downed it — including where exactly it was flying — weren’t spelled out in early reports.
The MQ-1 Predator is a remotely piloted aircraft used primarily for surveillance and, in armed variants, for missile strikes. Its loss to Iranian fire would mark a direct Iranian attack on U.S. military equipment — the kind of incident U.S. commanders have historically treated as a threshold requiring a response.
Whether additional U.S. strikes are planned, and how Iran intends to respond, hadn’t been announced as of early June 1.
Reporting by NPR. Read the original report.
