Kuwait announced yesterday it is to expel a number of Iranian diplomats for alleged spying that dates back to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in a fresh blow for Arab-Persian ties across the Gulf.

Sunni-ruled Bahrain, a fellow Gulf state and scene of protests led by its Shiite majority, has accused Shiite Iran of meddling in its affairs and elements of the Bahraini opposition of links with Tehran.

The unrest and charges of Iranian ties have raised concerns in the Sunni monarchies of the oil-rich Gulf, which sent a joint military force to Bahrain where security forces crushed an anti-regime protest movement on March 16.

Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Sabah told reporters that Kuwait is to expel an unspecified number of Iranian diplomats for alleged links to a spy ring working for Tehran, reportedly ever since the invasion of Iraq.

“There will be action against a group of Iranian diplomats... They will be considered persona non grata and expelled from Kuwait,” he said.

The foreign minister charged that the diplomats had proven links to the suspected spy ring, three members of which a Kuwaiti court condemned to death to Tuesday.

Iran dismissed the Kuwaiti claims as baseless and Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the Islamic republic did not interfere in Kuwait’s internal affairs, Iran’s official news agency reported yesterday.

Mr Salehi, in a telephone conversation with Sheikh Mohammed, also dismissed as a “conspiracy” the death sentences issued on Tuesday by a Kuwait City court.

“The old issue raised by a court in Kuwait and linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran is a plan pursued by those malevolent (forces) who do not desire good relations between the two countries,” Mr Salehi said.

“This (plan) is nothing but a conspiracy aimed at creating discord between Islamic countries in the region,” he added, Irna reported.