Kuwait on Tuesday arrested four alleged members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and accused them of attempting to infiltrate Bubiyan Island, a Kuwaiti territory close to shipping lanes and oil fields that has a port under construction with Chinese funding.
Bubiyan is the largest island under Kuwait’s control in the northern Persian Gulf, close to the border with Iraq. It is sparsely inhabited at the moment, but will change with the completion of the Mubarak al-Kabeer Port, a massive project under construction with Chinese assistance as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The ambitious $4.1 billion port is expected to become a major hub for container ships, greatly increasing Kuwait’s trading profile and China’s economic influence on the region. The facility could also be helpful for shipping from Iraq and Iran to Red Sea trade routes.
The initial stage of construction was completed in 2014, while Kuwait hopes the port will become operational before the end of 2026. Mubarak al-Kabeer is very important to the “Kuwait 2035” project, an agenda modeled after Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Vision 2030 initiative to reduce the country’s dependence on oil for revenue.
According to the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry, on May 1 a fishing boat “specially chartered to carry out hostile actions against Kuwait” approached Bubiyan Island with six Iranians on board. Five were apparently IRGC officers, while the sixth was the captain of the chartered boat.
The IRGC is the elite theocratically-controlled wing of the Iranian military and has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government and European Union (EU). IRGC units handle most of Iran’s skullduggery in other countries, including recruiting and supplying proxy forces and destabilizing other Middle Eastern governments.
Hellbound and Down 