GENEVA: Iran
summoned Kuwait's envoy in Tehran yesterday to protest about Kuwaiti officials
meeting a representative of a "terrorist group" and hosting an
"anti-Iranian" meeting, Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement
on its website. The ministry did not provide any more details about the group
concerned or about which Kuwaiti officials had met the group's representative.

"These kinds
of actions are clear interference in the internal affairs of the Islamic
Republic of Iran and a violation of the principle of good neighborly relations
and friendly statements from Kuwaiti officials," the Iranian foreign
ministry's representative for the Gulf said, according to the statement.

Acting US Navy
Secretary Thomas Modly said on Friday that Iran could carry out
"provocative actions" in the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere in that
region in the future despite a period of relative calm, Tensions in the Gulf
have mounted since attacks on oil tankers this summer, including off the coast
of the United Arab Emirates, and a major strike on oil facilities in Saudi
Arabia. Washington has blamed Iran, which has denied being behind the attacks.

"I think
they're going to continue to perform provocative actions over there... and I
think they'll look at every opportunity they can to do that," Modly told
Reuters, without giving a timeline or details. "There's nothing that
suggests to me, short of a regime change there, that you have a different tone
set from the leadership, that would suggest to me that they're going to stop
doing what they've been doing," he added.

Since May, the
Pentagon has sent 14,000 additional troops to the region to deter Iran,
including an aircraft carrier. Modly suggested that US reactions to Iranian
actions could take away from the Pentagon's focus toward priorities like
countering China. "As they start creating mischief over there... our
reaction is we send an aircraft carrier over there for 10 months," he
said. "What does that do to our carrier readiness? It degrades readiness
the longer it's over there."

Modly's warning
on future actions coincides with China, Iran and Russia beginning joint naval
drills in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman. Waters around Iran have become a
locus of international tension, with the United States exerting pressure for
Iranian crude oil sales and other trade ties to be cut off, mainly through
extensive sanctions. The Gulf of Oman is a particularly sensitive waterway as
it connects to the Strait of Hormuz - through which about a fifth of the
world's oil passes - which in turn connects to the Gulf.

Asked if he
expected Iran to lash out in the region as a result of internal protests, Modly
said he had not seen intelligence on that. Demonstrations against a hike in
fuel prices turned political last month in Iran, sparking the bloodiest
crackdown in the 40-year history of the Islamic Republic. About 1,500 people
were killed during less than two weeks of unrest, three Iranian interior
ministry officials told Reuters.

The four days of
joint naval drills come at a time of heightened tensions since the United
States withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran in May last year.
"The message of this exercise is peace, friendship and lasting security
through cooperation and unity... and its effect will be to show that Iran
cannot be isolated," Rear Admiral Gholamreza Tahani said on state
television.

Tahani added that
the drills included rescuing ships on fire or vessels under attack by pirates and
shooting exercises, with both Iran's navy and its Revolutionary Guards
participating. State television showed what it said was a Russian warship
arriving at Chabahar port in southern Iran and said the Chinese will join
shortly, calling the three countries "the new triangle of power in the
sea".

"The aim of
this drill is to bolster security of international maritime commerce,
combatting piracy and terrorism and sharing information... and
experience," the flotilla commander said. "Us hosting these powers
shows that our relations have reached a meaningful point and may have an
international impact," he added.

Japan said Friday
it would send a military vessel and two patrol planes to help protect waterways
in the region, but will not join the US-led coalition. Tokyo will send a
destroyer for intelligence activities along with two patrol aircraft, chief
cabinet secretary and government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters. The
move is "Japan's own measure aimed at peace and stability in the Middle
East as well as ensuring safety of Japan-related vessels," he said, noting
that 90 percent of crude oil Tokyo imports were from the region.

The Japanese
patrol activities will not be deployed in the Strait of Hormuz, through which
much of the global oil trade passes and where the US-led coalition operates, a
defense ministry spokesman told AFP. The Self-Defense Forces (SDFs) will
operate in the high seas in the Gulf of Oman, the northern Arabian Sea and the
Gulf of Aden, he said.

Meanwhile, a
rocket attack in Iraq killed a US civilian contractor, raising fears yesterday
that violence could escalate in the protest-hit country already engulfed in its
worst political crisis in decades. Washington recently promised "a
decisive US response" to a growing number of unclaimed attacks on its
interests in Iraq, which it blames on pro-Iran factions. US-Iran tensions have
soared since Washington pulled out of a landmark nuclear agreement with Tehran
last year and imposed crippling sanctions.

Baghdad - which
is close to both countries - risks being caught in the middle. A barrage of 30
rockets was fired at the K1 Iraqi military base in Kirkuk, an oil-rich region
north of Baghdad, around 2220 GMT Friday, a US official told AFP. "One US
civilian contractor was killed and several US service members and Iraqi
personnel were wounded," said the US-led international coalition against
the Islamic State group. A direct hit on an ammunition depot caused secondary
explosions, and four more rockets were found in their tubes in a truck at the
launch point, the US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Federal security
forces, Shiite militia units and IS sleeper cells all have a presence in Kirkuk
province, which is claimed by both Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region and federal
authorities. Following the attack, "an escalation is possible but it is
far from certain", said Iraq expert Fanar Haddad at Singapore University's
Middle East Institute. "More importantly, anyone pushing for an escalation
in (Washington) DC will have to contend with (President Donald) Trump's
aversion to increased military engagement in the Middle East."

The attack comes
as Iraq is gripped by its biggest anti-government street protests since the
US-led invasion of 2003 that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. Protesters, many
of whom grew up in the post-Saddam era, have vented their anger at a government
they consider inept, corrupt and beholden to neighboring Iran. Violence has
claimed about 460 lives, most of them protesters, and left some 25,000 people
wounded, but rallies and sit-ins have continued.

Demonstrators
yesterday blocked a road to an oil field in Nasiriyah, in southern Iraq,
halting production for the first time since protests started in early October.
If sustained, such shut-downs could have a major impact in OPEC's second
largest producer, which depends on oil exports averaging 3.6 million barrels a
day. The protests forced the resignation of the Iraqi government nearly a month
ago. Since then, Iran and its local allies have pushed to select the next prime
minister, sparking more anger and threats by the president to quit.

The political
unrest has coincided with an increase in rocket and mortar attacks against
American interests in Iraq. Ten attacks since Oct 28 have left several Iraqi
military personnel wounded and one dead and caused damage around the US Embassy
in Baghdad's ultra-secure Green Zone. Five rockets hit Al-Asad air base on 3,
just four days after US Vice President Mike Pence visited troops there. More
than a dozen rockets hit the Qayyarah air base in northern Iraq in November.

In Friday's
attack, a Kirkuk provincial security official told AFP, "the shots were
very accurate. The attack was aimed precisely at the area where the Americans
are located, near the meeting room". A US source has said pro-Iran
factions in Iraq are now considered a more significant threat to American
soldiers than IS, whose sweeping offensive in 2014 saw Washington deploy
thousands of troops to the country.

Reflecting this
concern, "a convoy of 15 American vehicles each carrying armor and
weapons" recently arrived at the US embassy in Baghdad, according to an
Iraqi security official. US diplomatic and military sources have told AFP of
their growing frustration with the recent attacks. They say they rely on their
Iraqi partners to play a "de-conflicting" role between American
forces and the Hashed al-Shaabi, an umbrella organization for paramilitary
groups largely made up of Iran-backed Shiite militias. That is a complicated
task, as the Hashed has been ordered to integrate with the regular security
forces, but many of its fighters continue to operate with a degree of
independence. - Agencies