Iran top diplomat to visit Kuwait Wednesday

TEHRAN, (AFP) - Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi will travel to Kuwait on Wednesday to discuss bilateral and regional issues, ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.

The visit comes amid allegations of an Iranian spy ring operating in the Gulf state which soured relations between the two countries and saw them engage in tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats early April.

"Salehi's visit to Kuwait is in line with... efforts to discuss bilateral and regional issues with the countries in the region," Mehmanparast said in remarks broadcast on state television Tuesday.

"The views of each side as well as solutions to regional issues will be discussed during the visit," he said.

The Kuwait stopover will mark Salehi's fifth regional trip in the past few weeks, following visits to Qatar, Oman, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.

Relations between the Sunni-ruled Arab states in the Gulf and non-Arab predominantly Shiite Iran were strained following a crackdown in March on protests in Bahrain that had been led by the tiny kingdom's Shiite majority.

In early April, Kuwait expelled three Iranian diplomats it accused of working for an Iranian spy ring, reportedly since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

Iran in response expelled "several" Kuwaiti diplomats. The row also prompted the Gulf state to recall its ambassador from Tehran.