Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Dec. 22 Irans Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is due to visit the oil-rich state of Bahrain next week. Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Dec. 22 Irans Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is due to visit the oil-rich state of Bahrain next week.
Mottaki will attend the first session of the Iran-Bahrain High Commission for bilateral cooperation on December 25-26, Iran’s ambassador to Manama Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said.
His announcement was carried by the official state news agency IRNA on Saturday.
In November, Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa became the first Arab leader to directly accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons. “While they dont have the bomb yet, they are developing it, or the capability for it, he told The Times of London.
Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navys Fifth Fleet tasked with securing the Strait of Hormuz. About two-fifths of the world’s oil supplies pass through the 50-kilometre-wide entrance to the Persian Gulf.
In July, a semi-official Iranian newspaper claimed Bahrain with its majority Shiite population belonged to Iran. The article led to a diplomatic spat between the Sunni-ruled state and Shiite Iran, and Mottaki flew to Manama to curtail the diplomatic repercussions.