Kuwait says it foils infiltration operation by Iran’s IRGC

Kuwait has arrested four men it accuses of being members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after they allegedly tried to infiltrate Bubiyan Island by sea and injured a Kuwaiti soldier.

The Ministry of Interior said in a statement published on X on Tuesday that the operation took place on May 1 and the naval officers arrested “aboard a fishing boat specially chartered to carry out hostile actions against Kuwait” admitted they had been tasked by the IRGC with “infiltrating”.

The ministry identified the group members as Colonels Amir Hussein Abd Mohammed Zara’i and Abdulsamad Yadallah Qanwati, Captain Ahmed Jamshid Gholam Reza Zulfiqari and First Lieutenant Mohammed Hussein Sehrab Faroughi Rad.

During a confrontation with Kuwaiti forces on the island, gunfire wounded one Kuwaiti service member, the ministry said. Two other members of the group – navy Captain Mansour Qambari and the boat’s captain, Abdulali Kazem Siamari – escaped during the clash.

There was no immediate reaction from Iran on the accusations.

Bubiyan is Kuwait’s largest island, located at the northern tip of the Gulf near the Iraqi border. It holds significant strategic value due to its proximity to key shipping lanes and its location near Kuwait’s northern oilfields and military installations.

‘Flagrant violation’

Kuwait’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the alleged incursion as a “flagrant violation” of Kuwaiti sovereignty and a grave breach of international law. It demanded that Iran immediately and unconditionally cease “unlawful hostile acts”.

The deputy foreign minister summoned Iran’s ambassador to Kuwait to hand over a formal protest note, reserving Kuwait’s right to self-defence under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. The ministry said it holds Tehran fully responsible for the violation.

Kuwait’s foreign minister received a phone call from his Bahraini counterpart, who condemned the infiltration and affirmed “Kuwait’s full right to take all necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and protect its people”.

Earlier this week, Kuwait also reported intercepting “a number of hostile drones” in its airspace but did not specify where the drones were launched from.

The incursion followed strikes in April that hit Kuwait’s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery, one of the Middle East’s largest, and a power and desalination plant. Kuwait said Iran was responsible.

On March 30, an Indian national was killed in an attack on a Kuwaiti power and desalination plant that Kuwait also attributed to Iran. Tehran has denied responsibility for those strikes and instead blamed Israel.

Kuwait, located just 80km (50 miles) from Iran’s coastline, is highly dependent on desalinated water.