Kuwait Monitors Pro-Iran Sleeping Cells: Report

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) – Kuwait is closely monitoring "sleeping terror cells" that would resort to violence if Iran came under a military strike, a newspaper quoted a security source as saying on Sunday.

"The security agencies have been monitoring those cells for a long time and are aware of their moves and sources of funding," the unnamed Kuwaiti source told Al-Qabas newspaper.

They are "closely monitoring these sleeping terror cells through various methods and means," the source said without elaborating.

Al-Qabas reported on Saturday that Bahrain's intelligence service warned other Gulf states that large numbers of "armed terrorists" were preparing for acts of sabotage if Iran was attacked over its nuclear file.

The warning was based on confessions of members of a "terror cell" arrested a few days ago who reportedly claimed membership in the military agency of a neighbouring country, Al-Qabas said citing informed sources.

The suspects reportedly said that they had been coordinating with similar cells in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, according to Al-Qabas. The Kuwaiti security source confirmed the Bahraini warning to Al-Qabas on Sunday.

Bahrain's National Security Agency said last week that four men suspected of forming "an organised network aiming to shake the security and stability of the country" had been arrested.

International human rights groups however said the number of arrests rose to eight.

On August 3 a Kuwaiti court charged six men and a woman, including a Kuwaiti soldier, with spying for Iran and passing on military information. They however denied the charges.

The alleged cell was busted in May and local newspapers said the defendants were spying for Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. Tehran rejected the charges.

The Iranian foreign ministry said in May that the allegations were aimed at "creating a climate of fear towards Iran," while a Revolutionary Guards official called them "baseless."

Iran's arch-foes, the United States and Israel, have never ruled out military action against Tehran's nuclear programme, which Western nations suspect of masking a weapons drive. Tehran denies the charge.