Tehran Says IDs of Iranians Arrested in Kenya Not Known

The identities of two Iranians whose arrest in Kenya this week preceded a U.S. alert of a planned "terrorist attack" in the country are not yet known, authorities in Tehran said on Saturday.

"The identities of these persons are not yet known to us and the Iranian embassy in Nairobi is seeking to obtain information and a consular visit," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.

"As long as the identities of these persons are not obtained, we cannot make any comment about this matter," he said.

"But given the good and brotherly relations between Iran and Kenya, it appears that certain circles and foreign media are trying to undermine them (the relations) by evoking such information and accusations," Mehmanparast added.

Kenyan police said they arrested one of the Iranians last Wednesday and the other on Thursday. "They are being interrogated to establish their involvement in terrorism activities," said Aggrey Adoli, police chief for Coast province.

Kenyan officials did not identify the two but said they had led police to two stashes of chemicals believed to be used to make bombs.

The U.S. embassy in Kenya on Saturday warned it had received information "of an imminent threat of a terrorist attack in Mombasa," Kenya's second-biggest city and a popular coastal destination.

The embassy said all U.S. government employees were barred from travelling to Mombasa for the next week. The French embassy in Nairobi also warned its citizens to be "extremely vigilant" in Mombasa and the surrounding area.