On-the-ground reporting from Kuwait alarms CNN anchor: 'War ramping up?'

President Donald Trump claimed the Iran war is already winding down with the U.S. prevailing, but on-the-ground reporting in Kuwait shows the conflict may be trending in the opposite direction.

The 79-year-old president told supporters at a campaign-style rally in northern Kentucky that joint U.S.-Israeli military operations had "virtually ⁠destroyed Iran," and "we won," but within hours of those statements Iran struck two oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and bombed locations throughout the Middle East, as CNN's Nic Robertson reported from the region.

"Just take a look at theapartment above me here, residential building thatcompletely ripped apart, blown-out debris strewn on the groundaround here," Robertson told "CNN News Central." "I can see a shoeover there, twisted metal, overhere two people were injuredhere, two civilians. Kuwaiti government officials tell uswere injured here they've beentaken away for treatment. Therewere multiple rounds ofattempted attacks and attacks onKuwait overnight. The sirensgoing off, defensive fighterjets put up in the airovernight, but I want to tell yousomething here that I thinkgives our viewers a real clue tohow much of a threat Iran is andhow their attacks are working."

Robertson directed the photographer to turn around and show the Persian Gulf in the near distance.

"We're looking at the Persian Gulf,Iran is 50 miles behind meacross the water there," Robertson reported. "So thatdrone flew in from therestraight into the building here,a couple of hundred miles thatway is the Strait of Hormuz.Just further north from here,closer to in Iraq, two tankers,oil tankers, hit by an explosivedevice last night, both set onfire. So right in the northernend of the Persian Gulf here nowyou have Iran attacking oil tankers here, a few hundred milesto the south, trying to choke offthe Strait of Hormuz. They areputting this whole region into asort of a an economic chokehold.The Iranians are turning thesea here, the water, the Persian Gulf effectively into a warzone, not just the buildingsaround here, Kuwait, as well."

Robertson and the photographer again pivoted back to the city, where the camera captured imagines of downed power lines and damaged buildings.

"The attack thathappened just a few hours ago in Kuwait, targeting and hit Kuwait International Airport," Robertson said. "Structural damage, we're toldno one injured. But that threatcoming straight across from Iran, very close, very real."

Anchor Kate Bolduan agreed the images and reporting did not indicate the war was winding down.

"That is oneterrifying, the damage that yousee just behind you, but alsoterrifying, the perspective thatyou're offering viewers of justhow close the threat is and howthe battlefield is coming rightto the shores of all of Iran's gulf neighbors rightnow," she said, "and what is unfolding doesnot seem a war winding down, butrather a war ramping up."

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