Kuwait summons Iranian ambassador in protest over statement affecting independence of its judiciary
Kuwait summoned the Iranian ambassador and handed him a protest memorandum over a statement by his embassy rejecting Kuwaiti court rulings in an espionage and assassination-plot case, deeming the statement a blatant interference in its affairs.
The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry summoned today, Wednesday, October 28, 2026, Iran's ambassador to Kuwait, Mohammad Toutounji, and handed him an official protest memorandum regarding a statement issued by the Iranian embassy concerning Kuwaiti judicial rulings, considering the statement a blatant interference in the country's internal affairs.
Details of the Iranian ambassador's summons
Deputy Foreign Minister Ambassador Hamad Sulaiman Al-Musha'an summoned the Iranian ambassador, and the ministry said in a statement that the protest memorandum came in response to what the embassy's statement contained of an affront to Kuwait's sovereignty and the independence of its judicial authority, in clear violation of international laws and norms.
Al-Musha'an reiterated Kuwait's categorical rejection and strong denunciation of any interference in the judicial rulings issued by its national courts, stressing the need for the Iranian side to comply with the provisions of international law and the United Nations Charter, notably the principles of good neighbourliness and non-interference in the internal affairs of states, as well as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.
Death sentences in an espionage case
The summons follows after the State Security Chamber of the Criminal Court in Kuwait, last Monday, issued death sentences for three defendants, including an Iranian national, after convicting them of charges that included colluding with Iran, links to Lebanon's Hezbollah, and plotting to assassinate Kuwaiti officials, among them the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousuf.
The Iranian embassy rejects the accusations
The Iranian embassy in Kuwait said in its statement that it categorically rejects accusing an Iranian citizen of involvement in a plot to assassinate figures or of any action targeting Kuwaiti national security, asserting that the named citizen had not been present in Kuwait during the past ten years.
The embassy expressed regret over what it described as the continued negative positions towards Iran and the repetition of what it called fabricated scenarios about its interference in Kuwaiti affairs, which Kuwait considered an interference in the work of its judiciary.
Gulf-Iran tensions at a sensitive time
The diplomatic dispute coincides with rising tensions between Iran and Gulf states amid the war between the United States and Israel on one side and Iran on the other, and at a time when Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah is on an official visit to Riyadh where he met his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan to discuss regional developments and efforts to reduce escalation.
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