Kuwait on Thursday ordered the expulsion of about 15 Iranian diplomats after the emirate's top court convicted a "terror" cell of links to the Islamic republic, a government source told AFP.

Kuwait also ordered the closure of the Iranian "military, cultural and trade" missions, said the government official, who asked not to be named.

The Gulf state's supreme court last month sentenced the mastermind of the cell to life in jail and condemned 20 others to various prison terms for alleged links with Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah and plotting attacks in Kuwait.