Kuwait to ramp up naval forces to protect ports

Kuwait is preparing to increase security around its ports after a number of attacks on shipping in Gulf waters and tensions between Iran and the US increase, KUNA state news agency reported.

Kuwait's navy and ports authority signed joint cooperation protocol "at an important period which the region is passing through security-wise", said Sheikh Yousef Abdullah al-Nasser al-Sabah, according to Reuters.

He also said that naval forces should "ensure full readiness for any potential emergency", including training, after six tankers were reportedly attacked in the Gulf region over the past two months, which the US have blamed on Iran.

British warship HMS Montrose also reportedly had to protect a tanker from Iranian navy vessels, seeking to block its path in the Strait of Hormuz.

It happened after the Gibraltar seized an Iranian tanker that was planning on shipping oil to Syria.

On Saturday, UK Prime Minister Jeremy Hunt said that the tanker would be released if Iran gave assurances it would not send oil to sanctions-hit Syria, where the government's counter-insurgency efforts have led to the death of half-a-million people.