KUWAIT CITY, April 16: Iran’s influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was in Kuwait on Sunday on a visit aimed at easing fears of Iran’s Gulf neighbours about its nuclear programme.

Rafsanjani, also the head of Iran’s powerful Expediency Council, is due to hold talks with officials, including Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, during the two-day visit.

The talks will focus on the escalating crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme amid reports of possible US military action against Iran, officials and diplomats said.

“We want to assure you (the Gulf region) that we are at the service of the whole region,” Rafsanjani told an accompanying Iranian television crew at Kuwait airport.

Rafsanjani’s visit follows Iran’s announcement last week that it had successfully enriched uranium to the level needed to make reactor fuel, triggering global concern about its nuclear ambitions.

Uranium enrichment can be extended to make weapons, and the UN Security Council has given Iran’s leadership until April 28 to freeze the sensitive fuel cycle work.

Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah said last week that Iran’s nuclear activities must remain under the close watch of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“The countries in the region should be assured that Iranian nuclear activities were under the close watch of international monitoring, and that its safety precautions comply with international standards,” he said.

Kuwait’s leading liberal newspaper Al-Qabas warned in an editorial on Sunday entitled “Welcome Rafsanjani... But,” that Gulf states may be the main victims of a possible US-Iranian military confrontation.—AFP