Kuwait denies Iran using its water to smuggle weapons

CAIRO - 2 August 2017: Kuwait denied on Wednesday what was published by Reuters regarding Iran using Kuwaiti waters to smuggle weapons and military assistance to the Houthis in Yemen, according to Kuwait’s state news agency (KUNA).

An official source at the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry stressed that the country’s waters are under the full control of the Kuwaiti navy forces, as well as the coast guard, noting that they did not detect any suspicious activities in areas under their control.

On Tuesday, Reuters stated, according to informed sources, that Iran “has started using a new route across the Gulf” to smuggle weapons to the Houthis in Yemen.

Regional and Western sources told Reuters that Iran started using waters further up in the Gulf, between Kuwait and Iran, to deliver military assistance to the Houthis, in order to avoid running into “international naval vessels on patrol” in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

According to Reuters, a senior Iranian official said the route is used to transport “part of missiles, launchers, drugs and sometimes cash” to Yemen.