Kuwait’s ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, will visit Iraq on Wednesday, state news agency KUNA reported, as tensions grow in the region following recent attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz.
Over the past month, two attacks near the Strait of Hormuz targeted six tankers, an area through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes.
Both the US and Saudi Arabia have blamed the attacks on Iran, while Tehran denied being involved.
The visit by Kuwait’s ruler to Iraq “comes amid rising and unprecedented tensions and developments witnessed by the region, particularly the acts which targeted the safety of oil supplies through destruction and strikes on oil and commercial vessels,” KUNA reported.
According to news reports, Kuwait viewed the attacks on the tankers as a threat to international peace and security, but the small nation refrained from accusing any particular country or group.
Sabah over the past few years has acted as a regional mediator on multiple occasions. He has regularly met with Iraqi officials over the past few years, aiming to restore neighborly relations following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
According to KUNA, it will be the emir’s second visit to Iraq since he became ruler in January 2006.