Kuwait will not be used to launch attacks on any country, says Speaker

Manama: Kuwait's National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al Khorafi said that Kuwait would not allow the use of its territories to launch attacks on other countries, Kuwaiti media reported on Friday.

“I have not been informed or even heard of this request,” Al Khorafi answered when asked about Western reports claiming that the US has requested Kuwait that it would use its territories as launch pad to attack other countries.

However, Al Khorafi said that US anti-missile Patriot batteries have been stationed in Kuwait since the Iraqi invasion in 1990 and are there for purely defensive purposes.

A Kuwait test of the batteries one month ago was “part of the regular and normal procedures, not due to the latest developments in the region,” US Ambassador to Kuwait Deborah K. Jones reportedly told the Kuwaiti daily Arab Times.

“We have a long-standing relationship with Kuwait, as well as a cooperation defense agreement that goes back to around 20 years. It is only natural that we regularly discuss our defensive systems as a whole,” Jones said.

“There are no emergencies behind the exercises we conducted about a month ago on the Patriot batteries that are here in Kuwait and which Kuwait is operating effectively,” Jones said.

In Washington, Bahrain's foreign minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa defended his country's right to protect itself and insisted that Iran should not see the missile shield deployment as a measure to attack any country.

During a press conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, Shaikh Khalid on Wednesday said that the protections measures have been in place for decades, but are now being improved, without seeking to threaten anyone.