Bahrain summons Tehran envoy

Bahrain summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires yesterday in protest at “interference” by Tehran in the internal affairs of the kingdom, the foreign ministry said. Tehran’s envoy Mahdi Islami was summoned “to address his country’s interference in the kingdom’s internal affairs through deliberately attributing false information to Bahraini officials”, the ministry said. Undersecretary Hamad al-Amer told Iran’s envoy that his country’s “conduct incites sedition and sectarianism” in Bahrain, it said. He also dismissed “claims” in Iranian media that Manama had requested Iranian mediation in domestic affairs as “false”. “Any interference in Bahrain’s domestic affairs through mediation or other methods, as well as in dealing with its citizens, is unacceptable and would be an encroachment on its sovereignty and independence,” he said. The protest followed a meeting between Iran’s representative and the spiritual leader of the Shia opposition, Ayatollah Issa Qassem. The main Shia opposition, Al Wefaq, said in a statement that the meeting between Islami and Qassem took place in response to a Bahraini request for mediation. Iran’s deputy foreign minister in charge of Arab and African nations, Hossein Amir Abdolahian, was quoted on the foreign ministry website as saying that the request for Iranian help was forwarded by Manama. Amir Abdolahian said it followed a series of meetings, including one between King Hamad and Iran’s foreign minister on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Co-operation meeting in Makkah. “The Islamic republic of Iran announced a readiness to do so and established contacts with relevant nations in the region... but for reasons unknown to us the Bahraini side did not show seriousness in its request and the efforts were halted,” he added.