Iran, Bahrain Call for Restoring Ties

Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani and his Bahraini counterpart Abdullatif Bin Rashid al-Zayani discussed the resumption of bilateral relations, during a meeting on June 24.

Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs was in Tehran at Kani’s invitation to participate in the two-day Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), which included a ministerial meeting.

“During the meeting, the two sides agreed to create the necessary mechanisms to start the talks between the two countries to examine how to resume political relations,” Iranian Foreign Ministry website reported.

Bahrain recently expressed interest in restoring ties with Iran that severed in 2016. On June 7, Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran's President's Office Mohammad Jamshidi said that Bahrain had called for mending ties both in direct messages to Tehran and through Moscow, during a visit by the late President Ebrahim Raisi to Russia.

Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa said in late May, during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, that there was no reason to postpone the resumption of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom and Iran, and added that “the Kingdom is looking forward to improving its relations with Iran”.

Inaugurating the Iranian-Arab Dialogue Conference, on May 12, the late Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian welcomed Bahrain's move to release political prisoners, including some Shia opposition members, adding that Tehran was mulling the resumption of diplomatic relations with Manama.

Bahrain has long blamed Tehran for stirring up the Shia majority population against Bahrain's Sunni monarchy. Bahrain previously accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of backing two militant groups targeting its security. Tehran, however, has always denied any links to these groups.

One of these groups is the Shia Al-Ashtar Brigades, designated by the US and several Arab countries as a foreign terrorist organization.

Bahrain was the only Gulf state to support the US and UK strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen earlier this year, following which the group launched its attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

The two countries have had strained relations in the past decades, as Iran is seen as a supporter of the Shia opposition in Bahrain.

In 2016, Bahrain followed Saudi Arabia and its allies in cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, following the attacks on Saudi diplomatic premises in Tehran and Mashhad, after Riyadh executed prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Al-Nimr.

In 2011, Bahrain’s own majority Shi'ite Muslim population started protests demanding the downfall of Bahrain's monarchy in the Arab Spring. Thousands of activists and opposition members had faced trial and arrest while many others fled abroad, after the widespread protests were curbed.