KUWAIT, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait on Wednesday refuted media reports that Iran has used Kuwaiti waters to send arms to the Houthis in Yemen.
Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the country's waters were under total control of the Kuwaiti navy and coast guard, the official news agency KUNA reported.
There were no reports of suspicious marine movements or activities in Kuwait's waters, the report quoted a ministerial source as saying.
The source urged media outlets to investigate matters more thoroughly before publishing news on the issue.
Media reports said Tuesday that Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has started using a new route between Kuwait and Iran across the Gulf to send arms to the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Before that, Iran shipped arms to the Houthis either directly to Yemen or via Somalia. But the route risked contact with international naval vessels on patrol in the area.
Yemen's internationally-backed government, allied with Saudi Arabia, has for years been battling Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels for control of the country.
In March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition imposed an air and sea blockade on Yemen to prevent weapons from reaching the Houthis, who took over the capital Sanaa and most northern Yemeni provinces.
Statistics showed more than 10,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen's civil war in 2015.
