Iran urges the Bahraini government to stop playing a blame game and instead consider the settlement of the tension in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom through “real political dialog”.
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham on Sunday dismissed as “baseless” allegations leveled by the Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa against the Islamic Republic.
In an interview with London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on September 10, the Bahraini foreign minister claimed that the explosive material, which Manama claimed it had seized while it was being smuggled into the Arab country from Iran in June, was "sufficient to obliterate Manama from existence.”
Afkham said that Bahrain’s policy to play the blame game and make unfounded accusations is aimed at covering up the Arab country’s internal problems.
She urged the Bahraini government to stop pursuing a security approach towards the conflict in the country and solve its problems through dialog.
Since early 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations on the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa family to relinquish power.
Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds more injured and arrested in the ongoing crackdown on peaceful demonstrations.
Al Khalifa also claimed that a nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in July “does not address all sources of tension” between Tehran and member states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
On July 14, Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia – plus Germany finalized the text of the JCPOA in the Austrian capital of Vienna.
Under the JCPOA, limits will be put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic.