On the twentieth of this month, the Foreign Ministry of Kuwait announced to reduce the number of diplomats of the Iranian embassy and the closure of its technical offices, and the freezing of the activities of the joint committees between the two countries on the background of developments in the case of “Abdali cell” accused of doing ” terrorist ” acts linked to Iran. The matter indicates that the Iranian-Kuwaiti relations have entered a tunnel of crisis of security gate. Kuwaiti-Iranian ties in crisis after “Abdali cell”. In wake of the development ,Kuwait expelled in April 2011 a number of Iranian diplomats accused of espionage and it warned Tehran that this case will have “dangerous repercussions on bilateral ties.
The current tension in relations between Kuwait and Iran is linked to the issue of what has become known as «Abdali cell», the case in which 26 Kuwaitis and one Iranian forming Kuwaiti organization accused of involvement in a «conspiracy» to destabilize security in the country, in cooperation with Iran and «Hezbollah» in Lebanon. But the first chapter of this tension really began on the announcement of the discovery of this cell, on 13 August 2015, especially since the first suspect is Iranian diplomat Abdulreza Haidar Dahqani, who has been sentenced to death in absentia . He was working at the country’s embassy in Kuwait at the time of discovery.
The second chapter of the diplomatic crisis, erupted yesterday after it was shown that 16 suspects convicted in the case of Abdali, have disappeared from sight, after the Court of Cassation overturned the judgments of acquittal of 15 suspects of them, and the sentenced them again with the jail for a period ranging between 5 and 10 years, in addition to the suspect (Dehghani) , Iranian nationality , who was sentenced by the death in absentia.
The list pursued by the authorities include the suspect , Kuwaiti nationality who was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and 11 Kuwaiti suspects who had been sentenced to prison for 10 years, and three suspects were sentenced to prison for 5 years . The Court of Cassation overturned on 16 of the last June judgments of acquittal they obtained from the Court of appeal on July 21 2016.
The country is dominated by suspicions that the accused ,16, have already fled by sea from Kuwait to Iran, although the Interior Ministry said the day before the yesterday, in a statement, it still believes that their information confirms through official records that the members of the cell ,16 , are still inside Kuwait, but they are out of sight. And on the impact of «shock», the political crisis erupted with Iran again, and the Iranian «ISNA news agency» said that «Kuwait ordered the Iranian ambassador to leave the country», which was not confirmed by Kuwaiti sources.
Observers believe that the actions taken by Kuwait, which indicate that the threats posed by Iran’s practices reached a degree can not remain silent towards it or not to respond to them, similar to what happened before. Kuwait found evidence reinforcing Iran’s involvement in the establishment of the so-called “Abdali cell” in August 2015 and the disappearance of some of the suspects in it, and perhaps the transfer of a number of them into its territory, in a way that pushed it to send a strong warning message to Tehran through these measures. These steps took special importance also in terms of the timing, because it came at a stage where accusations are rising against Iran of supporting terrorism and threaten the security and stability of some countries of the region. Kuwaiti measure to reduce the level of diplomatic representation at this time imposes more regional and international pressure on Iran. And it sets new obstacles to its attempts to promote its alleged role in the war against the organization of the Islamic state in Iraq, especially after the end of the battle of Mosul. Kuwaiti position coincides with the escalation of the sharp of international pressures on Iran, noting that the annual report issued by the US secretary of state on the current July 19 accused Iran that it is still the first sponsor of terrorism at the international level.
Before the issue of “cell Abdali”, for as long as there was a Kuwaiti suspicions appear from time to time, even in periods of calm, about Iran’s involvement in the building of spy networks and sabotage in the Kuwait. Kuwaiti Shiite element balancing (demographically and practically, as it holds influential positions) in the Gulf state played on several occasions an important role to bring the two countries closer , but in turn raised fears of being a fertile environment that Iran could exploit as a paper of pressure if needed in the Gulf, especially since the Shiite clerics in Kuwait went out repeatedly to defend the suspects in the espionage issues in the eighties , and during the Iraq – Iran war, relations between the two countries have seen significant tension, as Kuwait stood on the neutrality to tend later in favor of Iraq. In that period, the Gulf state witnessed several security events such as the bombing of US and French embassies (1983) and the assassination attempt of Emir of Kuwait (1985) or the attempt of kidnapping of a Kuwaiti plane (1988) … the planning for these events, attributed to Iran, either directly or by reference later on , specifically after Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the relations between the two sides improved after the position of Tehran to stand to the side of Kuwait.
However, news of the discovery of spy cells appear from time to time to talk again about the lack of Kuwaiti confidence towards Iran. The most prominent of those discoveries recorded in 2010 with the announcement of discovery an Iranian spy network, followed by life sentences on 4 persons, including two Iranians on charges of “spying for Iran,” the talk was then that the discovered network is one out of eight spy networks worked in the country under the supervision of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
In the same year , some Iranian diplomats were accused of recruiting members of the network before previous years , and on the background of the accusation , some of the Iranian diplomats were expelled in the year 2011and Kuwait warned Iran of dangerous repercussions of the case on bilateral ties and accuse the spy networks of transferring information about Kuwaiti and American institutions and monitor the American and Kuwaiti armies and observe American sites in the country by the Iranian Guards . Iran has denied these accusations against it.
In 2012, “Dorra field” crisis returned (or “Arash” field as it is known in Iran) between the two countries and the ranging between ups and downs constantly since the sixties. The field of Dorra is the water triangle, part of it located on the common border between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and another part with Iran. While the latter has settled the border affairs with both Qatar and Bahrain, it remained disagree with the UAE over the islands and with Kuwait on the exploitation of the field. In the sixties Iran granted the right of exploration and exploitation to the “British Petroleum”, while Kuwait awarded the concession for “Royal Dutch Shell”, and the intersection of the two concessions in a part of the field, which its gas reserves were estimated about one trillion cubic feet . Kuwait protested at that time about Iran exploration for gas in the field where there is no agreement on the demarcation of the border, knowing that the developments of the case linked to the political aspects as well, since the political rapprochement reflected calm in the file, compared to the eruption during the stages of tension. The maritime border crisis between the two countries is known as the continental shelf crisis erupted in 2012 after the statement of the head of Iran’s state-run continental shelf oil company that if Iran’s diplomacy was refused , we would go ahead with our efforts to develop the offshore gas field of Arash in the Gulf from one side . The Kuwaiti response came to summoned the charge d’ affairs in the Iranian Embassy in Kuwait and handed over a protest note.
In 2015, signs of an Iranian Kuwaiti conflict come again on the surface, but was not completed, when the ministry of foreign Affairs of the state of Kuwait summoned the charge d’ affairs in the Iranian embassy to protest against the launch of Iran two projects to develop the Dorra oil field, according to Foreign ministry of Kuwait . Foreign ministry of Kuwait said, at the time, she delivered a protest note over reports indicated to the issuance of the Iranian national oil company of a bulletin on oil investment opportunities in Iran, including opportunities to invest in parts of the stretch of Dorra field, located in the overlapping maritime area, which has not been demarcated between Kuwait and Iran .This dispute over this field dates back to the sixties when Iran granted the right of exploration and exploitation to the Iranian – British oil company, while Kuwait was awarded the concession to the company, “Royal Dutch Shell”, noting that the two concession are overlapped in the northern part of the Dorra field. And in 2016 Saudi Arabia cut off the diplomatic relations with Iran followed by other Gulf countries whereas Kuwait was sufficient to summoned the Iranian ambassador and handed over tough protest note and in the beginning of 2017 and in a step to calm the situation ,the Kuwaiti foreign minister visited Iran with a message of the Emir of Kuwait Sabah Ahmad al-Sabah to the Iranian president Hassan Ruhani in connection to the Iranian Gulf relations whereas in exchange Ruhani visited Kuwait and met its Emir.
Despite the recent development in reducing the size of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Kuwait, but there is something like a consensus not to the possibility of the evolution of things to a complete break. This confirms the awareness of decision-makers in Kuwait, as in Iran, there are a range of geopolitical, demographic, social, economic and cultural determinants and data that control the Kuwaiti – Iran relations:
1. Geographical location : There are no direct borders for Kuwait with Iran , but separated by Iraq and the waters of the Arabian Gulf, but the neighborhood between them contributed to the formation of economic and cultural ties between the two countries. According to the wide-spread statistics, that more than 200 thousands visitor to visit Iran annually , while many of the families of Iranian origin exist in Kuwait and its number approximately 50 thousand. The tourism constitutes especially religious ones, between the two countries an important factor, as many Kuwaitis are heading annually for visits to the holy shrines in Iran.
2. The sectarian relation : Shiites in Kuwait represent nearly 20%, but the good relation with the ruling family and their relationship in the fields of politics and the media side helps the country to avoid sliding into sectarian tensions witnessed by other Gulf states, but sectarian tensions in the region in the recent period, reflected Kuwaiti – Kuwaiti controversy shown by the accusations of Shiites of the House of Representatives against Kuwaiti bodies regardless of the financing of some Kuwaitis to the extremists in Iraq and Syria.
3. The economy and oil: in the seventies, the two countries signed several economic agreements and treaties, including transit and trade agreement (re – export of goods), and trade exchange between the ports of Kuwait, and Muhammara and Bushehr and Bandar Abbas, as figures indicate 2014 example, that the volume of the trade exchange between the two countries was about $ 150 million annually.
Iran is an important strategic state for Kuwait based on its political weight and its privileged position, as well as being a major source of gas to Kuwait. In contrast, Kuwait constitutes , from its geostrategic position in the triangle between Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as stocks of oil and quiet diplomacy, a fundamental value for Iran in the region.
The limits of the problem of the emerging diplomatic representation and its relation to the economic interests may be expressed by the statement of one of the former Kuwaiti officials when he told the Journal “Huffington Post”, comments “Kuwait imports of agricultural, construction materials and food from abroad, including Iran … it is better that Kuwait maintains good relations with its neighbors, including Iran , which is a member of OPEC, the organization that determines oil policy which is the sole supplier of Kuwait. ”
It is worth to be noted that in the Iran-Kuwait relations, it is difficult to separate geography and demography in analysis that is the destiny of Kuwait to be located among three major powers in the region namely they
are : Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq; so Kuwait has to attempt to reconcile and combine these countries, but Kuwait biased to the brothers, the Arab Gulf States in its orientations and ideas, but it always play the role of mediator between them and Iran; due to population composition; Shi’as in the State of Kuwait are divided into two parts; Shia Arabs and Shiites Ajam, the latter were immigrants to Kuwait in the seventies, so formed a powerful lobby in Kuwait to keep the Iranian-Kuwaiti relations and try to strengthen and exit it from the Gulf , when the deputy in the National Assembly , the Shiite Abdul Hamid Dashti asked to question Kuwaiti Foreign Minister regarding Kuwait’s participation in the war in Yemen, causing a crisis in Kuwait, it was the talk of public opinion, which forced the Kuwaiti political leadership to decide on the issue when the Emir of Kuwait’s statement comes that any abuse to Saudi Arabia or the Gulf states is personal abuse to him .
Finally , the Kuwaiti decision maker is well aware of the size of security , social , economic, interference and exchange that makes obligatory to be calm and not escalate and don’t abuse the security of the Gulf and to stand united with brothers in the Gulf cooperating Council( GCC) and based on the data of recent regional environment , the scenario of ebb and tide will govern the Iranian- Kuwaiti relations.
Unit Gulf Studies
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies