KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait said on Sunday that it respects Iran’s “territorial integrity”, the Gulf state’s official news agency reported, a day after Tehran summoned its envoy to protest against Kuwaiti officials meeting Iranian separatists.

In a meeting with Iran’s ambassador, Kuwait’s deputy foreign minister Khaled al-Jarallah stressed that his country’s foreign policy was based on respecting “sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs and good neighbourliness”, KUNA said.

KUNA said Jarallah had reassured Iran’s ambassador that Kuwait respects the “Islamic Republic of Iran’s territorial integrity”.

Iran’s foreign ministry had said on Saturday that it summoned Kuwait’s envoy to Tehran to protest against its officials meeting a separatist group and holding an “anti-Iran meeting”.

“Such actions are a clear interference in the internal affairs” of Iran, the foreign ministry told a Kuwaiti envoy, according to a statement.

The Iranian statement did not specify which separatist group the Kuwaiti officials stood accused of having met.

Jarallah told Iran’s ambassador that the meeting took place without permission from relevant Kuwaiti authorities, KUNA reported, adding that competent officials have “begun taking necessary legal measures” over the “disappointing” affair, which was undertaken in a “private” capacity.

Iran and Kuwait have had relatively good relations in recent years despite tensions between the Islamic republic and other Gulf Arab states.

Kuwait greatly reduced its diplomatic presence in Tehran in 2016 after Saudi Arabia completely severed relations with Iran, but it kept a charge d’affaires and two officials.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2019