Kuwait refers alleged Iran agents to court

KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait’s public prosecutor says his office has referred 26 people to court on allegations that include illegal weapons possession, committing acts harmful to the country’s unity, and having “furtive contacts” with Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

The official Kuwait News Agency cited a statement from prosecutor Dherar al-Asousi saying that the accused include 25 Kuwaitis and one Iranian. All but three of the suspects are in custody.

Kuwaiti security forces last month uncovered a large cache of arms, ammunition and explosives hidden deep underground at a farm, and arrested three Kuwaitis during the raid.

The public prosecution issued a gag order on information related to the incident after local newspapers linked the cell to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah group.

The move is the latest sign of escalating tensions between the small Gulf state and its larger Shiite neighbor Iran.

Last week, a senior Kuwaiti lawmaker on Sunday described Iran as the “true enemy” of Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states.

“It has become clear to all that Iran is an enemy plotting to swallow up our states and resources and is the true enemy of the region,” Hamad al-Harashani, the head of the Kuwaiti parliament’s foreign relations committee, said in a statement.

Harashani singled out an apparent bomb attack the week before in Bahrain as “yet further evidence of Iran’s aggression” in the region.

The blast killed a policeman and wounded seven people, with Bahraini officials saying explosives used in the attack were similar to materiel seized by authorities last month which “came from Iran.”

“Iran is seeking to spread chaos and undermine the ruling regimes” in the region, Harashani said, calling on Gulf states to boost security coordination.

Kuwait and Iran were on relatively good terms for years until the Gulf state early this month broke up the “terrorist cell” charged this week and seized large quantities of weapons and explosives.