Closure of Some Iranian Offices in Kuwait; 15 Diplomats to be Expelled

Following reports of the closure of several Iranian representation offices in Kuwait, a Kuwaiti official announced on Thursday, July 29, that the country will take "unspecified actions" regarding its diplomatic relations with Tehran. According to Reuters, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti Minister of Information, referred to a ruling from a court in the previous year and added that the Kuwaiti government has decided to take actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran. He did not provide details about these actions. According to AFP, an unnamed Kuwaiti official stated that the country has expelled 15 Iranian diplomats. He added that Kuwait has closed three Iranian military, cultural, and commercial offices in the country. Earlier, "Sky News" and the Arabic-language network "Al-Alam," affiliated with Iran's state radio and television, reported that the Kuwaiti government had requested Tehran to reduce its number of diplomats in the country from 19 to 4. According to these reports, Kuwait has also closed the Iranian cultural attaché office and the military attaché office, giving Iranian diplomats 45 days to leave the country. The reason for this action, according to reports, is the "Al-Abdali group" case, with the Islamic Republic of Iran accused of having connections to this group. Meanwhile, while Iranian media reported on the Kuwaiti government's actions on Thursday, Iranian officials had not reacted to these reports by noon on the same day. Previously, the Kuwaiti newspaper "Al-Siyasa" reported on July 26 that 14 Kuwaiti Shia citizens, convicted of forming a group linked to Tehran, had fled to Iran by sea. These 14 individuals had been released from prison after appealing and were supposed to remain free until the Supreme Court's ruling was announced. The Kuwaiti Supreme Court deemed the military intelligence and security investigations into this group valid and credible, establishing a connection between the group's leader, "Hassan Hajieh," and "Abdolreza Dehghan," an employee of the Islamic Republic's embassy in Kuwait. This case has been ongoing since 2015, and Iran has denied any connection to this group. Nearly one-third of the Kuwaiti citizen population consists of Shia Muslims. In May 2015, Meysam Amroodi, the cultural and social deputy of Tehran Municipality, was arrested while leaving Kuwait and was released after one day. Following these reports, some websites close to Iranian conservatives stated that he had previously been the head of Iranian schools in Kuwait in 2008 but was expelled due to "anti-Zionist and anti-American positions" and extensive activities in the Shia community in Kuwait. However, Iran and Kuwait have had relatively low-tension relations compared to Tehran's relations with some regional countries, including Saudi Arabia. In this context, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait, welcomed "constructive" dialogues with Iran during the Arab League summit in April of this year. Iranian officials had discussions with Kuwait and Oman in the latter months of the previous year, which followed the visit of the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister to Tehran and the exchange of messages between the parties. The Iranian Foreign Ministry also considered President Hassan Rouhani's trip to Oman and Kuwait in February 2017 as a "sign of goodwill" and "indicative of the desire for favorable and balanced relations."