Iran releases Kuwaitis detained for alleged spying

Two Kuwaitis detained by Iranian authorities last month for alleged spying were released on Saturday, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al- Sabah said. Sheikh Khaled said Kuwait's amir dispatched a plane to bring the two back home from Ahvaz, the capital of Iran's Khuzestan Province. Adel Al-Yahya and Raed Al-Majid were arrested in Iran's southwestern city of Abadan on Nov. 13 by security officers who accused them of illegal entry and espionage. Kuwait denied the accusation and summoned the Iranian ambassador, urging an immediate release of its citizens. Kuwait said in May last year that it busted an espionage cell working for Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which was denied by Tehran. The relations between the two Gulf countries soured after a Kuwaiti criminal court sentenced to death two Iranians and one Kuwaiti convicted of spying in March. The sentence led to tit-for-tat expulsions of ambassadors and diplomats, who returned to their posts two months later after bilateral efforts were made to ease the tensions. Gulf Arab states, ruled by Sunni monarchies, accused Iran, a Shi'ite state, of meddling in their internal affairs after Iran opposed the move by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to sent troops to Bahrain in March to help quell the protests.