Iran expels three Kuwaiti diplomats

Iran expels three Kuwaiti diplomats

2011-04-11 04:09:52 GMT+7 (ICT)

TEHRAN (BNO NEWS) -- Iran expelled on Sunday three Kuwaiti diplomats in retaliation for the Persian Gulf's emirate similar action, Press TV reported.

Kuwait expelled three Iranian diplomats of the Iranian Embassy in the capital on April 2, alleging that they had links to a spy network. The officers have been allegedly gathering information about the US military bases in Kuwait and passing it on to Iran, which denied the allegations.

Days earlier, Kuwait sentenced two Iranians and a Kuwaiti citizen to death for being part of the Iranian spy cell. A statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Bureau denounced the act, saying it was "totally unfounded".

In May 2010, Kuwaiti media outlets alleged that security officials had arrested a team of spies with links to Iran. Iran's foreign ministry responded to the allegation and denied Iran's involvement. 

Tehran says that those earlier claims were dismissed by a number of Kuwaiti officials, including the parliament speaker, and the fact that the issue has been brought up again after a year raises questions.

Earlier this week, MP Hossein Naqavi Hosseini of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament said that Kuwait's move is part of a US plot devised to legitimize the current crackdown on popular movements in the region.

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