TEHRAN (IRNA) -- President Mahmud Ahmadinejad here on Monday in separate messages to Kuwait's new Emir Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Salim al-Sabah and Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber al-Sabah expressed his condolences over the demise of the former Kuwaiti emir.

A report released by the Presidential Office Media Department said that in his messages, the chief executive prayed to God Almighty to bless the late Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah and give the bereaved ones patience.

Chairman of the Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani also on Sunday expressed his condolences to the Kuwaiti Crown Prince and Prime Minister on the demise of the Kuwaiti Emir.

In his message, Rafsanjani said that regional nations will remember the efforts by the late Emir of Kuwait to reinforce regional cooperation and reconstruction of Kuwait especially after the 1990 Iraqi invasion.

"I hope that thanks to the administrative insight of your excellency, we would witness the development of Kuwait and the welfare of the Kuwaiti nation and more cooperation with regional states to foster security cooperation among Muslim nations," Rafsanjani said.

Rafsanjani extended his best wishes for the brotherly Muslim nation of Kuwait and called for development of good neighborly relations between the two nations.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi, in a separate message to the Kuwaiti government and nation on Sunday, expressed his condolences over the demise of the Kuwaiti Emir.

The Emir of the oil-rich Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, 78, died on Sunday after a long illness. Sheikh Jaber, who ruled since early 1978, had been ailing since suffering a brain hemorrhage in September 2001.

Following the Emir's death, Kuwait announced a 40-day period of mourning. Government offices will be closed for three days.

Asefi, in his message, voiced the Iranian government and nation's deep sympathy with Kuwait's government and its Muslim nation.