Kuwaiti and Bahraini MPs have rejected Iran's denial of spy networks, telling Gulf News that there is strong evidence of the illicit activities of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the Gulf. On Sept 16, Iranian Defence Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najar said accusations that Iran was running a spy network

in the Gulf countries were "lies and provocative remarks from enemy Western media". In Bahrain, Adel Al Mouawad, an influential parliamentarian on the Defence Committee, urged the GCC to unite its forces to thwart any attempts to undermine the security of the region. "Our countries urgently need to work together to address increasingly ominous menaces to destabilise them", he said. Al Mouawad said he had no doubts about the existence of sleeper cells in the Gulf. "Iran has often had an ambivalent attitude towards the Gulf states, claiming to offer support and friendship, but at the same time, adopting antagonistic attitudes and seeking to interfere in domestic security issues", he said. Nasser Al Duwailah, head of Kuwait's Legislative Committee in Parliament, told Gulf News in a phone interview that his country had evidence of Iran's ill intentions in the region. "We have no reason to doubt that such networks will be used to destabilise the country as part of the Iranian plan to 'burn' the Gulf in case of war", he said. "The GCC should have a strong and unified stance to clarify their position regarding a looming war in the region and convey it clearly to Tehran", he said. Neutral stand in conflict Al Duwailah, a retired artillery colonel with the Kuwaiti army, who is the head of the Kuwait Strategic Centre for Studies, Plans and Consultancies, said the indications about the existence of an Iranian spy network in the region are numerous and Iran must defuse them before the current policy damages the image of the Iranian community in the GCC. "Iran has recently sent a colonel in the Revolutionary Guards to oversee the operations in Kuwait. The officer managed to overcome the entry ban against him by paying a bribe of $8,000 (Dh29,424) to a high-ranking State Security officer ... The Iranian officer succeeded in staying on for eight days before being arrested", Al Duwailah. Kuwaiti MPs also told Gulf News that GCC leaders should be neutral in any conflict between the West and Iran over Tehran's nuclear facilities. Gulf News report Dubai The Iranian Embassy has described as "baseless" a report claiming Iran has assembled a widespread network of infiltrators and collaborators across the Gulf, which can destabilise the region when needed. The Press Department of the embassy said in a statement to Gulf News that the report was "unfounded". On Sept 15, Gulf News quoted former Iranian diplomat Adel Al Assadi as saying sleeper cells were in place and ready to become operational. Speaking from Sweden, where he is living in political asylum, Al Assadi, who was the Consul General in Dubai with the rank of an ambassador, said Iran's Revolutionary Guards have been covertly building the strategic force of collaborators. However, the embassy said the allegations were untrue. It said the person quoted in the report had suffered psychological problems and his services had been terminated.