After more than a week of silence, Tehran has at last distanced itself from the outrageous claim by former Parliament Speaker Ali Akbar Nateq Noori — a close adviser to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei — that Bahrain should be Iran’s 14th province. Not before time. The nine days that it kept quiet about Noori’s irresponsible and aggressive comments fueled suspicion that Iran agreed with them. There is, of course, nothing new about such unhistorical claims. They go back years and resurface from time to time even though Iran formally abandoned them in 1971 when Bahrain achieved full independence from the UK. Two years ago, an editorial in the influential pro-government Tehran newspaper Kayhan claiming that Bahrain was rightfully a “province of Iran” and that public opinion there wanted “reunification” with the “native land” sparked tensions which were damped only when the Iranian foreign minister flew to Bahrain four days later and assured it that the Islamic Republic respected its sovereignty. The editor, Hossein Shariatmadari, was also forced to admit that the opinions had been his own.
Once again, the crisis is defused. But concerns are bound to linger. The fact that Noori chose to repeat Shariatmadari’s irresponsible comments, knowing the damage they had done, raises question why he did so. He must have realized that it would provoke fresh tension. The fact the he, like Shariatmadari, is a close adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei raises more serious questions. To many, it will be seen as proof of a powerful inner circle in Tehran that is expansionist, aggressive and with malevolent intentions toward Bahrain.
The fact, too, that it took so long for the Iranians to dissociate themselves from Noori is worrying. Why did they not do so immediately? They had the lesson of the previous crisis to go by. They should not have waited until there was a tidal wave of condemnation from the Kingdom, from Egypt, Jordan and many other states. It indicates either political ineptitude in Tehran or that there are those who actually go along with Noori’s outrageous and dangerous ideas. Last time round, it took four days for Tehran to apologize to the Bahrainis and by the foreign minister in person. This time, it took nine and no ministerial appearance. Does it mean that Iran’s expansionists are growing in strength and number?
Saudi Arabia’s policy toward Iran has always been to talk to it. Dialogue is always better than threats and warmongering; they can so easily get out of control. The policy will continue. But the way Iran has handled this crisis is bound to leave it suspect in many Arab eyes. Many will wonder why the crisis happened now. Was Iran attempting to divert attention from its present economic and social problems by intervening in Bahraini politics? Was this linked to the country’s presidential elections in four months’ time and the difficulties facing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Khamenei’s preferred candidate?
It is bad that Iran still illegally occupies the strategically located Gulf islands of Abu Musa and the two Tunbs which it seized in 1971 and which belong to the UAE. The sovereignty of Bahrain is of an infinitely different scale. The matter has to be dealt with once and for all. The Islamic Republic needs to make a formal commitment to it in an international treaty. Without such a commitment, suspicion of Iran will remain and Arab-Iranian relations could be poisoned. That is in no one’s interests.
