MANAMA, 13 July 2007 — Claims by the editor of a hard-line Iranian newspaper that Bahrain is part of Iran and should be returned have provoked uproar in the Gulf island state which is seeking an explanation from Tehran.
Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of conservative Iranian daily Kayhan, said in an article published on Monday that Bahrain was a province of non-Arab, Shiite Iran, and that Bahrainis were demanding the island’s return to its “native land.”
The comments caused a firestorm in Bahrain, which has a majority Shiite population, and threaten to escalate into a diplomatic spat. “We are awaiting an official response from Iran on the... Shariatmadari issue,” a Bahraini Foreign Ministry official who declined to be named told Reuters yesterday.
Sectarian tensions have flared in Bahrain in the past, as Shiites complain of discrimination in jobs and services.
Bahrain’s Shoura Council, or upper chamber of Parliament, condemned Shariatmadari’s comments. “The Shoura Council in Bahrain has strongly deplored the irresponsible statements released by the adviser to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and managing editor of Iranian daily Kayhan, Hossein Shariatmadari,” it said in a statement.
Bahrain is an ally of the United States and hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, whose deployment of two aircraft carriers off Iranian waters in recent months has raised pressure on Tehran in its nuclear standoff with the West.
Iran says its nuclear enrichment program is peaceful but Western powers suspect it is secretly building a bomb. Two days of talks between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog on an Iranian offer of more nuclear transparency made progress and will continue in coming weeks, both sides said yesterday. Javad Vaeedi, Iran’s deputy nuclear negotiator, said the talks made “constructive progress.” The deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency spoke of “good results.”
Iran’s Embassy in Bahrain said Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki would address the issue arising out of Shariatmadari’s claim during a trip to the Gulf kingdom today. It was not clear whether Shariatmadari’s comments triggered the visit. Embassy spokesman Abulghasem Vafaei distanced Iranian policy from Shariatmadari, saying he did not advise Iran’s leadership in foreign affairs. “This article is completely his personal view, it is not related to any official. This man is a journalist, not an adviser in foreign policy,” he said.
Iran is also involved in a dispute with the United Arab Emirates over three Gulf islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb. The UAE says the islands are occupied by Iran, which administers them as part of its province of Hormozgan
