Qatar on Sunday denied press reports that it had seized 2 Iranian boats carrying weapons in the Gulf amid mounting tensions in the strategic region.

"The reports about the seizure in territorial waters of 2 Iranian boats loaded with weapons are inaccurate," the official QNA news agency quoted an interior ministry spokesman as saying.

The Kuwaiti electronic newspaper Al-Aan had reported that the 2 Iranian boats were intercepted off the Al-Zubara coast, in the northeast of Qatar, and close to the country's territorial waters with Bahrain.

The newspaper's sources provided no details on the crew, the date of the operation, or the destination of the boats.

Sunni-ruled Bahrain, where Shiite-led protests broke out on February 14, accuses Iran of meddling in its affairs and elements of the Bahraini opposition of links with foreign powers.