Bahrain Follows Saudi Arabia and Severs Ties with Iran

Bahrain severed its diplomatic relations with Iran on January 4, giving embassy personnel 48 hours’ notice to leave the country.

This followed Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut its diplomatic relations with Iran on the evening of January 3 in protest against attacks on its embassy in Tehran.

Although Bahrain and Iran have a long history of strained relations, the current story began in July 2015, when Bahrain asked Rashed Sa’d Al-Dosari, Bahrain’s ambassador to Tehran, to leave Iran following a series of disagreements between the two countries.

At the time, Bahraini authorities also claimed that they had uncovered a plot to smuggle arms into the country, orchestrated by two Bahraini nationals with close ties to Iran. The suspects confessed that they had received weapons from Iran.

In October 2015, Bahrain accused Iran of “state terrorism,” with the aim of toppling the Bahraini royal family. Bahraini authorities have stated that they believe Iran offers refuge and support to Shia terrorists in Bahrain, and accuse Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of training them in camps established for that purpose.

During a trip to London October 2015, Bahrain’s foreign minister, Shiekh Khaled, told the media: “We fight against state terrorism. There are active elements in Bahrain who report directly to Iranian authorities.”

Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries have also accused Iran of interfering with Bahrain’s internal affairs, though they have provided little evidence for these claims. In one example, Bahraini authorities accuse Iran of being involved in the country’s democratic movement in 2011, and claim Iran had trained Shiite opponents to the existing regime. However, the Independent Bahraini Truth Commission, which was tasked with investigating the violation of human rights in the country in 2011, found no evidence of such involvement.

Iran denies interfering in Bahrain. At the same time, it does show open support for opposition groups demanding more political and economic rights for the country’s Shiite population.

More than two-thirds of Bahrain’s population is Shiite, although the ruling Al-Khalifeh family and government officials in Bahrain are Sunni Muslims. Prior to 2011, Shiite and Sunni Muslims lived peacefully alongside one other in Bahrain, but after the 2011 protests, sectarian tensions grew and discrimination against Shia Muslims rose. One distinct form of discrimination is that authorities have stripped Bahraini Shias — many of whom are of Iranian origin — of their citizenship. In recent years, authorities have revoked the nationality of at least 179 Bahraini citizens, most of them with a Parsi [Iranian] background. According to Bahraini authorities, those who had their citizenship revoked had been convicted of terrorist activities and had close ties to Iran. But human rights organizations have stated that such accusations are baseless.

Bahraini authorities consider Shia Muslims, especially those with Iranian background, to be equally loyal to both Iran and Bahrain. As a result, they view them as potential threats to Bahrain, and to operating as subversive elements on behalf of the Iranian regime.

Further back, in 1981, the Bahrain Islamic Liberation Front, a Shia military group supported by Iran, attempted to stage a coup to overthrow the existing regime. Since then, authorities in Bahrain have been extremely suspicious of all Shiite organizations.

The Bahraini government is expected to exert more pressure on Bahrain’s Shia groups after recent events, and particularly in light of the break in diplomatic relations between the two countries. 

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