DUBAI: Four Iranian men arrested by Kuwaiti armed forces as they attepted to infiltrate a strategic island have admitted to being members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, state news agency KUNA reported on Tuesday.
Kuwait’s interior ministry identified the individuals as Naval Col. Amir Hossein Abdolmohammad Zaraei, Naval Col. Abdolsamad Yedaleh Ghanavati, Naval Captain Ahmad Jamshid Gholamreza Zolfaghari and First Lt. Mohammad Hossein Sohrab Foroughi Rad.
The group confessed during interrogation that they were tasked by the Revolutionary Guards to infiltrate Bubiyan Island on May 1 using a rented fishing boat and had been ordered to carry out hostile acts against Kuwait.
However, the group were intercepted by Kuwaiti soldiers stationed on the island, and the two sides exchanged fire. A Kuwaiti serviceman was injured during the clashes, the ministry said.
Two IRGC-aligned officers — Naval Captain Mansour Qambari and Abdulali Kazem Siamri, who was the boat’s commander — managed to escape during the firefight.
The interior ministry said legal measures had been taken against the suspects.
The Kuwaiti foreign ministry later said it had summoned the Iranian ambassador, Mohammad Toutounji, to hand him "a letter of protest following the infiltration on the island of Bubiyan of an armed group belonging to the Revolutionary Guards and their involvement in clashes with the Kuwaiti Armed Forces," AFP reported.
The ministry denounced it as a "hostile act" and a "flagrant attack" on Kuwait's sovereignty, adding that it reserves "the right to self-defence."
It marks the fourth time that the ambassador has been summoned since the Middle East war began and Iran launched its retaliation against Gulf countries in late February.
Bubiyan island is Kuwait's largest and is located near the Iranian coast. It is home to Mubarak Al Kabeer Port and o came under Iranian attack during the war.
The case sparked condemnation from other Arab Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, which said it strongly condemned the attempt to infiltrate the island.
"These violations undermine international efforts aimed at restoring security and stability in the region," the Kingdom's foreign ministry said.
Iran's foreign ministry denied the allegations, calling them "absolutely baseless", and said the four officers had entered Kuwaiti waters by mistake "due to disruption in the navigation system".
- With AFP
