A Kuwaiti court sentenced seven men to death on Tuesday, five of them in absentia, for their roles in a deadly Shiite mosque bombing claimed by the Islamic State group.

A total of 29 defendants, seven of them women, had been on trial on charges of helping a Saudi suicide bomber carry out the June 26 attack which killed 26 Shiite worshipers and wounded 227.

Iran's embassy objected Thursday to being linked to a group set to go on trial in Kuwait on charges of plotting attacks on the Gulf Arab emirate.

In a statement published by Iranian state news agency IRNA, it also expressed "deep sorrow" at what it called a "systematic" Kuwait media campaign against relations between the two countries.

Kuwait on Tuesday charged 24 people suspected of links to Hizbullah and Iran with plotting attacks against the Gulf state, a statement by the public prosecutor said.

The men were charged with "spying for the Islamic republic of Iran and Hizbullah to carry out aggressive acts against the State of Kuwait" by smuggling in and assembling explosives, as well as possessing firearms and ammunition, the statement said.

A senior Kuwaiti lawmaker on Sunday described Iran as the "true enemy" of Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states, in a sign of growing tensions with the Shiite power.

"It has become clear to all that Iran is an enemy plotting to swallow up our states and resources and is the true enemy of the region," Hamad al-Harashani, the head of the Kuwaiti parliament's foreign relations committee, said in a statement.

Kuwait has summoned an Iranian envoy to protest Tehran's apparent offer of investment opportunities in the disputed Dorra gas field, state media reported Wednesday.

The move followed a report by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) about investment possibilities in the Islamic republic, which "covered areas located near the Kuwaiti oilfield," the KUNA news agency said.

Two Gulf countries have issued travel warnings to Lebanon after peaceful demonstrations against the country's trash crisis turned violent on Sunday.

Bahrain's foreign ministry renewed its call on its citizens on Monday to avoid travel to Lebanon “out of its keenness on their security and safety.”

Kuwait has broken up a new three-member "terror" cell and seized large amounts of weapons, ammunition and explosives, the interior ministry said on Thursday. 

Three Kuwaiti citizens were arrested and have confessed to joining a "terror" group, a statement said.

A Kuwaiti court trying 29 suspects in a deadly bomb attack on a Shiite mosque freed 11 defendants Thursday, while the main accused said he had been told worshipers would not be harmed.

A travel ban, however, remains in place on the freed defendants, including two women. Of the 29 initial suspects, five have gone on trial in absentia.

The main suspect in a deadly attack on a Kuwaiti Shiite mosque in June confessed in court on Tuesday to being in the jihadist Islamic State group.

Abdulrahman Sabah Saud told the first hearing of the trial of 22 men and seven women that he joined IS just a day before the June 26 suicide bombing that killed 26 people and wounded hundreds.

The Kuwaiti embassy in Lebanon on Thursday advised its citizens against traveling to Lebanon, urging those already in the country to be “extremely cautious” in their movements.

The embassy called on Kuwaitis to avoid what it described as “suspicious locations,” asking them to “communicate and coordinate with the embassy when needed, in order to preserve their security and safety.”