Foreign Relations of Bahrain - Bahrain and US-Iran Relations

Bahrain and US-Iran Relations

Before the US published the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran's nuclear pogramme at the end of November 2007, there was growing uneasiness in Bahrain at the possible consequences of a US-Iran military confrontation. The threat of US military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities equally concerned Bahrain’s government and Shia-dominated opposition, with both expressing fears that it could undermine the delicate political accommodation the two sides have sought under King Hamad.

Tensions between Bahrain and Iran had already been raised in the summer of 2007, when Hossein Shariatmadari, an Advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and editor of the Iranian newspaper, Kayan, called for Bahrain to be incorporated into Iran as its 14th province – a stance that echoed Saddam Hussein’s designs on Kuwait in the late 1980s. Bahrain’s Foreign Minister, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, described the claim as “very disturbing” because it “touched on the legitimacy of our country”. Shariatmadari’s call led to protests on Bahrain’s streets, and was followed by intensive Bahrain-Iran diplomatic shuttling, with the Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, flying to Manama to play down the remarks and make clear that they were solely Shariatmadari’s personal opinion.

The relationship between various Bahraini communities and Iran is not as straight forward as it might at first seem; while Shia Bahrainis share a degree of religious affinity with Iran, they tend to be acutely conscious of their Arab identity and hence particularly sensitive to suggestions of dual loyalty (as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s found in 2006 when he claim that Shia Arabs in the Persian Gulf were an “Iranian fifth column”; his views created a storm of criticism in Bahrain, with the deputy speaker of parliament calling on him to apologise). Bahrain’s Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa has gone out of his way to make clear that whatever religious or political persuasion, Bahrainis have the same fundamental loyalty to the state, saying "We are Bahrainis first, opposition or not." A point reiterated by a foreign diplomat in Bahrain in November 2007 who told the Independent newspaper that Shia Bahrainis are "loyal, patriotic, and looking after their own interests" and warned visiting journalists that it was completely misguided to see them as "willing agents and puppets of a malevolent Shia regime in Iran".

Religion itself has as much capacity to divide as to unite: Bahraini and Iranian Shia predominantly follow different and sometimes competitive theological strands in a division that goes back to the Safavids. German Persian Gulf analyst Maximilian Terhalle explained:

Among Sunni Bahrainis the situation is often equally complicated: many of the most influential Sunni business and political families have their origins in Iran, having emigrated to the more liberal economic and social atmosphere of Bahrain over the last hundred and fifty years; and in fact many still speak Persian in their homes. This community, known as Huwalas, while not at all sympathetic to the theocratic government in Tehran, tend to have extensive business interests on both sides of the Persian Gulf and have looked forward to the prospect of growing Iran-Bahrain trade. A point reflected upon with some irony by Shia Bahraini writer, Tawfik Al-Rayyash, who in reference to the government/civil society’s reaction to Sharaitmadari's remarks said: "I ask myself why this outcry was led by people who, when they enter their homes or meet their families, change their language from Arabic to Persian."

The former head of the Salafist party Asalah in Bahrain, MP Sheikh Adel Mouwda, expressed the Sunni Islamist perspective on Iran, telling the New York Times, "If Iran acted like an Islamic power, just Islam without Shiism, then Arabs would accept it as a regional Islamic power. But if it came to us with the Shia agenda as a Shiite power, then it will not succeed and it will be powerful, but despised and hated."

Nevertheless as Bahrain Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said "If a war starts anything can happen. Iran is led by a Muslim Shia theocracy. It is difficult to see it under attack and Shias in Bahrain keeping quiet. A conflict between Iran and the world in this region will be catastrophic.” A point echoed by opposition Al Wefaq MP Dr Jasim Ali, "War could cause more than physical destruction. An attack on Iran will be seen in Bahrain as an attack on the Shia establishment. The sectarian divide will grow. If there is a war then everything else will stop. It'll be security first - and nothing else."

The growing tension prompted MPs in December 2007 to pass a non-binding resolution banning the use of the country’s territory for any attack on Iran.

The publication of the NIE on Iran's nuclear programme increased skepticism in the Persian Gulf as to the aims of US policy in the region. One sign of this was the clash between Bahraini government minister Majeed Al Alawi and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Manama Dialogue security summit in December 2007. Al Alawi challenged Gates over the US attitude to Israel's nuclear arsenal, asking whether he thought "the Zionist (Israeli) nuclear weapon is a threat to the region" Gates replied that he did not and proposed instead that Iran was the threat not Israel, a response that was met with "laughter and derision" by the audience of Persian Gulf officials according to the Washington Post.