Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the IRGC’s Qods Force, warned the tiny kingdom Tuesday that its action crossed a red line and would leave its people “no other option but armed resistance” – resulting, he said, in the “annihilation of this tyrannical regime.” The unprecedented threat from the controversial Soleimani comes amid a deepening regional split between Iran and its Shia proxies, and a Sunni Arab bloc led by Saudi Arabia. The battle is already playing out in Syria and Yemen, and in a less obviously confrontational way in Lebanon and Iraq. Bahrain’s interior ministry on Monday announced it was stripping citizenship from Ayatollah Isa Qassim for promoting sectarianism. Qassim is the most prominent Shia cleric in the Sunni-ruled kingdom and spiritual leader of an opposition group, Wefaq, which the government shut down last week.
Saudi Arabia was quick to endorse Bahrain’s move. The SPA official press agency reported that a Cabinet meeting chaired by King Salman expressed support for all judicial measures taken by Bahrain “to fight extremism and terrorism … to preserve the security, stability and safety of its citizens” and safeguard unity and social cohesion. Political tensions have been simmering, with occasional violent flare-ups, since early 2011 in Bahrain, an island nation with a population of some 1.3 million and is a little bigger than three times the size of the District of Columbia. Bahrain has been ruled by the Sunni Al Khalifa dynasty for more than two centuries, but has a Shi’ite majority which enjoys support from Iran, just 150 miles away across the Persian Gulf. It is linked to Saudi Arabia by a causeway and is effectively a client state of its much bigger, wealthier and more powerful neighbor.
Strategically-situated, Bahrain is also home to the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet, and Britain last year began building a permanent base there. It is also one of just 16 countries to enjoy the status of “major non-NATO ally” of the U.S. The government’s new crackdown, which has also seen other opposition figures imprisoned or restricted, comes despite U.S.- and European-supported reform and reconciliation efforts set in motion following the February 2011 uprising. The State Department expressed its alarm at the revocation of Qassim’s nationality, the precedent it could set, and the risk of rendering people stateless. “Above all, we worry that this case, as well as other recent actions by the government, will further divert Bahrainis from the path of reform and reconciliation,” it said in a statement.
At a press briefing spokesman John Kirby agreed in response to a question that the U.S. was concerned about “any action in the region that potentially stokes sectarian tensions.” A reporter pointed out that the U.S. was coming down on the same side as Iran in opposing the Bahraini move and asked whether that was “part of the new U.S.-Iranian relationship.” “There is no new U.S.-Iranian relationship on larger matters,” Kirby replied. “We didn’t come down where we did on this to align ourselves with one or another party. Certainly didn’t come down on our views on this decision based on sectarian preferences, of which we have none.” Kirby stressed the overriding U.S. concern was that Bahrain’s actions could potentially set back reforms, and not be in the best interests of the kingdom or its people.
‘Surrender to the righteous demands of the Bahraini people’
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