ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kuwait on Wednesday declared two Iranian embassy staff persona non grata and protested the “ongoing Iranian attacks” on its territory, while also rejecting claims that Kuwaiti soil was used for attacks against Iran.
The move comes shortly after Tehran struck several civilian facilities in the Gulf Sheikhdom, killing at least one person and injuring dozens in what it claims were “self-defense” strikes against US assets in Kuwait.
The Kuwaiti foreign ministry said in a statement that it summoned Tehran’s Acting Charge d’Affaires Hamid Hamid Yaghouifar and handed him “an official protest letter over the ongoing Iranian attacks,” declaring two members of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Kuwait “persona non grata and demanding their departure” from the country within 24 hours.
“This decision comes in the wake of ongoing and brutal Iranian attacks using ballistic missiles and drones,” the ministry said, pointing to the assaults that “were renewed at dawn today [Wednesday], targeting several civilian facilities and vital installations, including Kuwait International Airport, which resulted in the death of one person and the injury of dozens of civilians, as well as material damage to vital infrastructure and diplomatic premises.”
Earlier in the day, Iran's foreign ministry condemned what it said were overnight attacks by the United States against an Iranian oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and a telecommunications tower on Qeshm Island, which it said were launched from "two countries in the region” that it later identified as Bahrain and Kuwait.
"These aggressive actions not only violate the [Pakistan-mediated] ceasefire agreement” but “also constitute a flagrant violation of the fundamental principle prohibiting the use of force under Article 2, Paragraph 4 of the United Nations Charter and international law," the ministry said.
For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a Wednesday statement on X that Iranian armed forces “are conducting self-defense strikes on sites the U.S. is permitted to use to attack civilian shipping and violate the ceasefire.”
He further warned that “any hostile act will be met with an immediate, decisive response.”
However, Kuwait rejected Tehran’s claims regarding the use of Kuwaiti territory to attack Iran, describing them as “baseless,” while affirming that its security and sovereignty, as well as “the safety of its citizens and residents on its soil, are a red line that cannot be compromised.”
The Kuwaiti foreign ministry also affirmed the Sheikhdom’s “full and inherent right to take appropriate measures to respond” to the “repeated Iranian attacks, in accordance with international law.”
Of note, the Iranian attacks on facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain on Wednesday prompted widespread condemnation from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and its member states, which, alongside Kuwait and Bahrain include Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi denounced the assaults, saying they are indicative of “Iran’s continued pursuit of hostile policies aimed at undermining regional security, in blatant defiance of international law.” He stressed that this requires a “firm international stance” to put an end to these “dangerous Iranian aggressive practices.”
