Bush, who will visit Kuwait as part of a Middle East tour that began in Israel on Wednesday, is due to hold talks with Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah over a range of issues including Iran’s nuclear programme, the Middle East peace process and the fate of four Kuwaitis held in Guantanamo.

“We warmly welcome President Bush to Kuwait,” Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah told reporters.

But like other US allies in the oil-rich Gulf, Kuwait is concerned that Bush may try to whip up support for military action against Iran, which Washington has accused of seeking nuclear weapons. Iran denies any such intent.

Senior Kuwaiti officials, including the defence and foreign ministers, have repeatedly said that the emirate will not allow Washington to use its territory to launch a strike against Tehran.

Kuwaitis still recall with gratitude the United States’ role under Bush’s father, former president George Bush, in leading an international coalition that liberated their oil-rich emirate from seven months of Iraqi occupation in 1991.

Kuwait served as a launchpad for the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq that eventually toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who in 1990 ordered Iraqi forces to invade his tiny neighbour.

One of Washington’s largest military bases in the region, Camp Arifjan, is in Kuwait, where about 15,000 US troops are permanently stationed. Coalition forces use the emirate as a transit point for forces going in and out of Iraq.

Kuwaiti leaders, who maintain good relations with Iran, have called for a peaceful solution to the standoff between the West and the Islamic republic over its controversial nuclear programme.

Islamist MP Nasser al-Sane called on Bush to spare the region further hostilities.

“We call on President Bush to avoid the use of force against Iran... We don’t want our region to be an area of wars and bloodshed. We want a region of peace,” Sane told reporters on Wednesday.

Sane also urged Iran to “respect the peoples on the other bank of the Gulf,” and not allow hardliners to set the agenda in Tehran.

Since the US-led coalition drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait, US-Kuwaiti relations have dramatically strengthened in the economic, security, defence and political fields.

The two countries have signed a defence pact, pledging US commitment to Kuwait’s security, which runs until 2012.

The emirate has made multi-billion-dollar arms purchases from the United States to re-equip its military forces that were greatly depleted during the Iraqi invasion.

Last month, the Pentagon notified Congress of a proposed sale to Kuwait of Patriot missiles and upgrades worth as much as 1.36 billion dollars.

Kuwait will raise the issue of four Kuwaitis who have been held at the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the last five years, Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah told parliament Wednesday.

The United States has released eight Kuwaitis from Guantanamo and all have been acquitted by Kuwaiti courts which tried them on charges of fighting US forces in Afghanistan.

MPs have passed a recommendation that the head of the parliamentary human rights committee, Saleh al-Fadhalah, attend Bush’s meeting with the emir to highlight the plight of Guantanamo detainees.

Bush will be the second sitting US president, after Bill Clinton in 1994, to visit Kuwait. His father was feted and showered with gifts when he came to the emirate in 1993 after leaving office.

But despite the friendship, unease is evident even among ordinary Kuwaitis over Washington’s stance against Iran.

“Kuwaitis are worried that Bush’s visit could be to apply pressure on Kuwait and the region to win their support for a military strike against Iran,” health ministry employee Sami al-Mani told AFP.

“If this happens, the whole region, and Kuwait in particular, will be badly affected, especially the economy.”