Kuwait says US cannot use bases for any Iran strike

Kuwait, a staunch US ally, said on Monday it would not allow the United States to use its territory as a launch-pad for any attack on Iran over its nuclear programme.
"The United States did not ask (to use Kuwaiti military facilities for any attack) and even if it did, we will not allow anybody to use our territory," defence and interior minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah told reporters.

Kuwait served as the launch-pad for the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and remains the main staging point for US-led troops in the country. Around 15,000 US troops are stationed at several bases in the emirate.

On Sunday, visiting Iranian parliament speaker Gholam Ali Hadad Adel said Tehran would hit US military bases in Gulf states if they were used in an attack on his country

"If this actually happens, we will be forced to defend ourselves... We will target those bases or points," he said.

Washington has always said it wants to resolve the nuclear crisis through diplomacy, but has never ruled out using military action to bring Tehran to heel.

Iran consistently denies it is trying to build nuclear weapons and says it merely wants to generate energy.