In an opinion piece published by the English-language paper Iran Daily, Member of Parliament Hossein Sobhaninia, investigates the ramifications for such an action.
Bahrain has declared Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Manama persona non grata and has given him three days to leave the tiny Persian Gulf island. Bahrain is not an important country and the expulsion of Iran’s envoy will not isolate the Islamic Republic in the region, rather such moves will bring about isolation for the Arab kingdom itself.
It seems that the tiny nation has fallen under the influence of Saudi Arabia and is repeating what Riyadh dictates because such a petite country is not in a position to accuse Iran of meddling in others’ affairs. Bahrain has provided no proof for its claims and this shows that Manama is following the footsteps of Riyadh in making baseless allegations to fish from the region’s troubled waters.
If Bahrain had any evidence about Iran’s interference, no doubt it would reveal it. The expulsion appears to be only propaganda against the Islamic Republic and a new project to spread Iranophobia. It is not a surprise because this has always been a policy of pro-Saudi Arab countries.
Now only those countries that were angry about the nuclear agreement are trying to create tension. They feel that in the post-deal era, Iran would become more influential and would expand its ties with other countries. In fact, they are afraid of Iran’s power and worried about their own positions. They fear that Iran would become more powerful in the aftermath of the nuclear deal and rapprochement with the West.
Bahrain and its Arab allies spared no efforts to sabotage the nuclear talks and threw every wrench they had to kill a deal. But after they failed to achieve their goals, they launched the project of Iranophobia by accusing Iran of meddling in their internal affairs. But such naive acts would surely result in their own isolation. Iran has proved that even in real hardship it cannot be isolated and maintains its relations with many countries.
Iran will definitely boost its political and economic ties with the world in the near future. European officials’ trips to Iran in recent months have sounded the alarm for countries like Bahrain that are worried about such increasing visits and Iran’s growing role in the international arena.
Despite Iran’s policy of détente, Bahrain and other pro-Saudi states will keep up with their policy to demonize Iran but such measures will lead nowhere and they will gain nothing.
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