Shiite and Sunni Islamist Kuwaiti MPs fought with fists in parliament Wednesday during a heated debate over Kuwaiti inmates in the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detention center.

The parliament was holding a debate over four Kuwaiti detainees in the U.S. prison camp in Cuba when Shiite MP Hussein al-Kallaf provoked some Sunni fellow MPs by dismissing the prisoners as "al-Qaida" militants.

Half of Kuwait's MPs urged the government on Tuesday to sever ties with Damascus and expel its ambassador in protest at Syria's deadly crackdown on anti-regime demonstrators.

Twenty-five out of 50 MPs called on the Kuwaiti government to "cut ties with the repressive (Syrian) regime and to expel its ambassador in Kuwait," in a statement received by Agence France Presse.

Two opposition MPs on Tuesday filed to question the Kuwaiti premier in parliament over allegations of squandering public funds and financial and administrative irregularities.

The move came just two days after Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmad al-Sabah, a nephew of the ruler, formed his new cabinet which was strongly criticized by opposition lawmakers.

Iran has expelled "several" Kuwaiti diplomats in retaliation for the expulsion of Tehran's diplomats accused of spying in the Gulf emirate, the Arabic-language al-Alam television reported on Sunday.

"Iran expelled in retaliation several Kuwaiti diplomats," the station announced, quoting an informed source who did not reveal how many diplomats had been asked to leave the country.

A blinding dust storm hit Kuwait on Monday forcing a halt in oil exports which an official said would not affect commitments to clients, while air traffic was completely halted.

A spokesman for Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) said oil exports were stopped and would resume when weather conditions improve.

OPEC member Kuwait said on Monday that oil prices are too high because of unrest in the Middle East and Japan's earthquake.

"Although we are enjoying high prices, we would like to see lower prices ... We would like to see a normal oil price," the CEO of national conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC), Faruq al-Zanki, told reporters.

Gulf Arab foreign ministers were to meet Sunday in the Saudi capital to discuss Iranian interference after Arab world unrest spilled over into some of the region's Western-backed monarchies.

Abdul Latif al-Zayani, the Gulf Cooperation Council's new secretary general, condemned "Iran's meddling in the internal affairs of GCC countries" on the eve of the meeting, saying it "threatened security and stability in the region".

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Thursday dismissed as a "conspiracy" against Muslim countries the death sentence announced by Kuwait against spies allegedly linked to Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Salehi made the remarks in a telephone conversation with his Kuwaiti counterpart Mohammed al-Sabah, who had earlier announced that an unspecified number of Iranian diplomats would be expelled for alleged spying since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The Kuwaiti government submitted its resignation on Thursday, State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Rudhan al-Rudhan told state news agency KUNA.

"The Kuwaiti cabinet submitted its resignation today at an extraordinary meeting," Rudhan said.

Kuwait is to expel a number of Iranian diplomats for alleged links to a spy ring working for Tehran, reportedly since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the foreign minister announced on Thursday.

"There will be action against a group of Iranian diplomats ... They will be considered persona non grata and expelled from Kuwait," Sheikh Mohammed al-Sabah told reporters.