Sadeq Mahsouli came with an invitation for Bahrain’s King H M Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to visit Tehran, according to Iranian state television’s website.
Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad Al Khalifa said Mahsouli’s visit was “a generous step from the Iranian Islamic Republic and neighbour that will strengthen ties between both countries,” Bahrain’s BNA news agency reported.
“The relationship between the two countries is a warm and sincere one and will not be hurt by the mischief of enemies,” Mahsouli was quoted by the website as telling Bahrain’s King. “Tehran and Manama will not allow anyone to cause divisions between them or to prevent both nations boosting relations,” he said. The minister said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants Iran to strengthen ties with its Gulf neighbours, particularly Bahrain.
King Hamad said he “appreciates this visit… and has pointed to the importance of reinforcing the fraternal relations and cooperation between both countries,” according to BNA.
Bahrain protested to Tehran after Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri, a prominent conservative member of Iran’s powerful Expediency Council, reportedly said the kingdom used to be Iran’s 14th province and had a representative in its parliament.
The reported comments triggered wide condemnation in the kingdom as well as from neighbouring Gulf monarchies and Arab leaders in general.
Iran moved to defuse the spat, which threatened a major gas deal between the two nations, by saying it respects Bahrain’s sovereignty. The relationship between Sunni-ruled Arab states in the Gulf and Shia Iran has long been strained, with neighbours wary about the Islamic republic’s nuclear drive and its close ties with the new Shia-led government in Iraq.
Meanwhile, the head of the Gulf Cooperation Council yesterday slammed Iran’s stance towards its Arab neighbours, particulary Bahrain, despite Tehran’s interior minister saying a crisis with the small country was over.
GCC Secretary General Abdulrahman Al Attiyah lashed out at comments by Iranian officials over Bahrain’s sovereignty and at reluctance to resolve the issue of three disputed islands the United Arab Emirates say Iran is occupying. “The positive stance of GCC countries towards Iran is a lot of times met with a hostile, unfriendly and unjustifiable stance by Iranian officials,” Attiyah told a regional forum on security in Manama.
“The crisis between Bahrain and Iran is over, but there never really was what you could properly called a crisis,” Iranian Foreign Minister Sadeq Mahsouli told the forum. A day earlier, Mahsouli had said “the relationship between the two countries is a warm and sincere one and will not be hurt by the mischief of enemies.
But Attiyah said that if Iran were to repair relations with its Gulf Arab neighbours, it should not interfere in their domestic affairs and should engage in serious talks over the UAE’s disputed islands.
“The lack of response from Iran to repeated and sincere calls to resolve the issue of the three occupied islands weakens confidence between the two sides of the Gulf and does not serve efforts to boost security and stability in this vital region,” he said.
Iran and the UAE have a longstanding dispute over the islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa, which Tehran took control of after British forces withdrew from the Gulf in 1971.