Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah dissolved parliament on Tuesday, state media said, after the government was forced to resign last month in one of the deepest political crises in the oil-exporting state.

A decree from the emir read out on state television cited 'difficulties in achieving progress and defining the national interest of the country, which required going back to the nation to choose its representatives in order to overcome present difficulties'.

The decree said there would be elections but gave no date.

The emir named outgoing Defence Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah as new prime minister, and asked him to form a government. – Reuters