Kuwait recalls ambassador to Iran; Tehran denies spy ring links

Manama: Kuwait on Wednesday recalled its ambassador to Iran, a Kuwaiti news portal has reported.

Shaikh Mohammad Al Sabah, the foreign minister, has requested the Kuwaiti ambassador in Tehran Majdi Al Dhufairi to return to Kuwait City and stressed that any Iranian diplomat implicated in the spy ring busted last May will be deported, Al Aan said.

According to the online news, Kuwait's foreign ministry has summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires in Kuwait City to protest against the implication of Iranian diplomats in the spying network.

A Kuwaiti court on Tuesday sentenced two Iranians and one Kuwaiti to death on charges of spying for Iran.

A Syrian national and a stateless Arab resident were handed life sentences and two other Iranians, one man and one woman, were acquitted.

In Tehran, Ramin Mehmanparast, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, "decisively refuted the presence of an Iranian spy network in Kuwait."

"The media reports are false," Mehmanparast reportedly told the local media.