KUWAIT CITY (AFP) — Kuwait is to buy an unspecified number of Patriot missiles from the United States, Defence Minister Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah told the state news agency KUNA on Friday.
Sheikh Jaber, responding to questions about Washington's sale of arms to Gulf allies, said "Kuwait has signed deals, not for airplanes, but for materiel such as ships and Patriot missiles."
He did not give any further details.
In July, the United States announced plans for a series of arms deals worth at least 20 billion dollars (14.6 billion euros) with Saudi Arabia and five other oil-rich Gulf states.
The deals are aimed at shoring up US allies in the Middle East and countering "a more aggressive Iran", as one administration official put it.
The plan would also provide billions of dollars in new US aid to Israel and to Egypt.
Kuwait is a close ally of Washington. Serving as a forward base to troops involved in the US-led invasion of neighbouring Iraq in 2003, it remains a staging post for troops and munitions, and hosts around 15,000 US personnel.
Even so, Sheikh Jaber reiterated that the government would not allow Kuwait to be used for any attack on Iran following US warnings over its nuclear programme.
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