In this March 31, 2019 file photo, Kuwait鈥檚 ruling Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, attends the opening of the 30th Arab Summit, in Tunis, Tunisia. Iran鈥檚 Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday, August 18, 2019, on Twitter that he is praying for the 鈥渟peedy recovery鈥� of al-Sabah, though there has been no public word on the 90-year-old ruler being ill or injured. Zarif made the comment as part of a visit to the small, oil-rich Mideast nation. Kuwait鈥檚 Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. (Fethi Belaid/ Pool photo via AP, File)
DUBAI 鈥� Kuwait鈥檚 90-year-old ruling emir has appeared publicly for the first time after a still-unexplained health scare.
The state-run KUNA news agency published photographs of Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah on Monday and said he met the country鈥檚 crown prince and others.
Sheikh Sabah appeared healthy and spoke briefly in one video released by authorities.
On August 18, Kuwait acknowledged the emir suffered an unspecified medical 鈥渟etback.鈥�
That came after visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter that he was 鈥減raying for Emir鈥檚 speedy recovery,鈥� without elaborating.
Sheikh Sabah has ruled Kuwait since January 2006. He鈥檚 pushed for diplomacy to solve regional issues, such as the ongoing boycott of Qatar by four Arab nations, and hosted major donor conferences for war-torn nations like Iraq and Syria. /kga