One Kuwait-based diplomat and a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the embassy had been damaged by a number of drones while a second Kuwait-based diplomat said the embassy building had been struck directly in the attack.

As an AFP correspondent saw smoke rising from the diplomatic mission on Iran's third day of retaliatory Gulf attacks, the US embassy said that people should not come to the facility, warning of "a continuing threat of missile and UAV (drone) attacks over Kuwait".