Kuwait is reportedly ready to boot out a number of Iranian diplomats for alleged links to a spy ring working for Tehran in the latest spat in ties between Sunni Arab Gulf states and Shiite Iran.
According to Kuwait’s foreign minister Mohammed Sabah, a number of Iranian diplomats are to be expelled for alleged spying that reportedly dates back to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
“There will be action against a group of Iranian diplomats…. They will be considered persona non grata and expelled from Kuwait,” he was quoted as telling reporters in Kuwait on Thursday.
Tehran slammed the claims as baseless, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the Islamic republic was not meddling in Kuwaiti affairs, according to Iranian state media.
Arab Gulf media reports say that Kuwait has recalled its ambassador to Iran for consultations.
Ties between Arab Gulf countries and Iran appear to becoming increasingly strained since the wave of Arab protests reached Iran’s Shiite neighbor Bahrain where the Sunni government’s security forces crushed the mainly Shiite-led protest movement last month.
