Kuwait summons Iran envoy over Soleimani killing claim

Such a claim 'risks damaging relations' between Kuwait and Iran, says Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled al-Jarallah

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait's foreign ministry summoned Iran's ambassador on Friday after a high-level Iranian official implicated the emirate in the US drone attack that killed top general Qasem Soleimani, official news agency KUNA reported.

Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled al-Jarallah expressed Kuwait's "amazement" at the claim that one of its air bases had been among those used to carry out the January 3 attack, KUNA said.

It said he was referring to a statement by Brigadier-General Amirali Hajizadeh, aerospace commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

"MQ-9 UAVs (drones) were flying in the region (at the time of the attack) that had mostly taken off from Kuwait's Ali al-Salem" base, Hajizadeh told Iranian state television on Thursday.

Jarallah told the ambassador, Mohammed Irani, that Kuwait had already denied any role in the deadly attack in Baghdad.

He said such a claim "risks damaging relations" between Kuwait and Iran.

Soleimani had been at the centre of power-broking in the region for two decades as chief of Iran's external operations Quds Force of the elite Revolutionary Guards.