Manama: A Kuwaiti lawmaker on Sunday called upon his government to expel all Iranian diplomats in Kuwait in retaliation for Tehran's decision to send three Kuwaiti diplomats home.
"The irresponsible attitudes by the Iranian regime confirm that the Iranian leaders have violated all diplomatic traditions and norms and good neighbourly relations," MP Mubarak Al Waalan said.
"The foreign ministry should consider all Iranian diplomats personae non gratae and issue a strongly-worded statement in response to the diplomatically unacceptable Iranian behaviour," he said in a statement carried by Al Aan news portal.
Kuwait should also stop all aerial and maritime links with Iran until Teh-ran starts respecting good neighbourly relations and adhering to diplomatic norms, away from rhetoric and tensions, he said.
Tension between the two countries has escalated after officials traded accusations with Kuwait accusing Iran of interference in domestic affairs and Iran accusing Kuwait of carrying a US agenda in the region.
The diplomatic row started after a Kuwaiti court 10 days ago sentenced two Iranians to death for their alleged role in a spy ring working for Iran.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected the charges by the Kuwait court and mocked the motivations.
Friends
"What is there in Kuwait to spy upon?" he said. "We are friends with both the Kuwaiti government and the people and therefore we believe that foreign hands are involved in this matter," Ahmadinejad said, referring to the US.
In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Prince Saud Al Faisal strongly criticised the accusations by Iran's foreign ministers against the policies of Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) after units from the Peninsula Shield, the military arm of the GCC, entered Bahrain last month.
Al Faisal told London-based Al Sharq Al Awsat that Iran had no right to interfere in the domestic affairs of the GCC countries and to violate their sovereignty and independence.
"It is unfortunate that we still hear such statements from Iran and which serve only to foment sedition, problems and trouble in the region," he was quoted as saying by the Saudi daily.
