Fortunately, Tehran’s harm which targeted Kuwait was aborted at early stages either when the Hezbollah cell was discovered or when its members fled. The Kuwaiti government acted without being advised or incited, and it expelled Iranian diplomats in the country reducing their number to four. It also shut down the Iranian embassy’s technical offices and missions as it was proven they are dens for espionage and arranging terrorist operations.

 

Terrorism is nothing strange to Iran as its terrorist activities can be seen in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and even Latin America. The surprise is that Iran targeted Kuwait which is one of the most reconciled countries with it. Kuwait’s emir visited Tehran three years ago despite the bad timing on the Gulf level and three top Kuwaiti officials congratulated Tehran for the nuclear agreement and viewed it as a positive turning point. Kuwait then welcomed Iranian President Hassan Rowhani. His visit to Kuwait was described by the Iranian envoy in the country as a positive move in the region. Cooperation committees were formed at a time when Tehran’s relations with Riyadh were deteriorating and Iranian Revolutionary Guards were fighting in Syria. In September 2014, around four months after the visit, Iranians entered Sanaa to work with Houthi militias.

 

Harming Kuwait

A year after this openness and positive Kuwaiti policy, security forces discovered massive amounts of weapons in the possession of a Kuwaiti terrorist cell that consists of over 20 people who are affiliated with Iran. Their intentions were to harm the stability of Kuwait which did not engage in any hostile activity against Tehran – not even verbally. Kuwait proved, whether through the naivety of its policy or through its attempt to test the honesty of its Iranian neighbor that it’s impossible to deal with Iran without being cautious and without looking out for potential threats. The detained members of the Iranian cell escaped – the cell is called as such but only one of its members is Iranian and the rest are Kuwaiti. It was the Iranian embassy that planned their escape. This was viewed as a flagrant aggression against Kuwait’s sovereignty as Iranian Revolutionary Guard wings in the Iranian embassy in Kuwait planned the detainees’ escape and smuggled them out of the country via boats to Iran.