Kuwait’s emir has arrived in Iraq for a rare official visit to the neighboring country amid rising tensions in the Persian Gulf between Washington and Tehran.
Iraq’s President Barham Saleh received Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah at Baghdad’s airport on Wednesday.
Kuwait news agency KUNA said the visit, the first since 2012, will focus on regional developments in the wake of attacks on oil tankers last week near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah is the latest leader to visit Baghdad after officials from the US, Germany and Oman dropped in.
Last Thursday, two oil tankers – one sailing under a Panama flag and owned by Japan and another bearing the Marshall Islands’ ensign owned by Norwegian Frontline – were hit by yet unspecified accidents in the Sea of Oman. Iranian rescuers rushed to the assistance, transferring all of their 44 crew members to Iran’s southern shores.
US blamed Iran for the attack, but Tehran firmly rejected US accusations as baseless, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accusing Washington of adopting “sabotage diplomacy” against the Islamic Republic.
Source: Agencies
