Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior announced on Saturday, May 9, the arrest of 41 individuals affiliated with an organization allegedly linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the ideology of Wilayat al-Faqih.
The ideology is based on a Shia religious doctrine that gives Iran’s Supreme Leader the ultimate authority over all governmental institutions, including the military.
Bahrain’s crackdown campaign against opposition
For over two decades, the Sunni-led Gulf state has cracked down on the majority Shia population. Reports state that mass arrests, revocation of citizenship, and the targeting of religious figures has taken place.
The Bahraini authorities have accused members of the Shia community of having allegiance to Iran and carrying out “espionage” on its behalf. Such accusations have been used as a pretext for its systematic repressive measures against them.
These measures have further intensified in the US-backed Arab country, following the recent US-Israeli aggression on Iran.
According to media reports, Bahrain revoked the citizenship of 69 people and their families because they expressed their support for Iranian retaliatory missile attacks on the country.
Bahrain is one of five Arab states accused of being complicit in US-Israeli attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran, as it hosts the US Navy’s headquarters in the West Asia region. For many, this makes Iran’s retaliatory attacks on these countries legitimate.
Prior to announcing the apprehension of the 41 people, Human Rights Watch reported that the authorities in Bahrain arrested dozens of people, who peacefully exercised their right to peaceful expression during the US-Israeli war on Iran. The organization also indicated that the death penalty has been sought for some detainees during the period.
Meanwhile, human rights groups accused Bahraini security services of torturing Mohammad al-Mosawi (32) to death, while he was in detention last March. Al-Mosawi was detained over allegations of passing intelligence to the IRGC.
Bahrain backs the US in a draft UN resolution against Iran
Manama took another step to escalate the tension with Tehran after it joined Washington on Tuesday, May 5, in circulating a draft UN Security Council resolution on the situation of the Strait of Hormuz.
The draft that was supported by other US allies in the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar, demanded that Iran “cease attacks, mining, and tolling” in the water way.
It also required that Iran “disclose the number and location of the sea mines it has laid and cooperate with efforts to remove them, while also supporting the establishment of a humanitarian corridor.”
Araghchi warns UN Security council against adopting a “politicized” resolution
Denouncing the US-Bahraini draft resolution, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sent a letter to the rotating president of the UN Security Council, António Guterres.
Araghchi described the draft resolution as “one-sided and incomplete”, because it “makes no reference to the root cause of the current situation in the Strait of Hormuz – namely, the military aggression and unlawful use of force by the United States and the Israeli regime against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The senior Iranian official noted that the draft aims to “distort the facts on the ground and to justify the past and ongoing illegal actions of the United States against Iran in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz – a region located thousands of miles away from the US coastline.”
Araghchi also warned that the adoption of the resolution will undermine the credibility and standing of the Security Council, and will result in politicizing its executive powers. He further cautioned that doing so will constitute “a dangerous precedent for legitimizing unilateral coercive measures and the US’s unlawful conduct in violation of the sovereignty and sovereign rights of coastal states.”
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