Bahrain and Iran agree to start talks on resuming ties

Manama cut ties with Tehran in 2016 but relations improved after the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement last year

Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani and Iran's acting Foreign Minister Ali Kani in Tehran. Photo: Bahrain Foreign Ministry

Bahrain and Iran have agreed to start talks aimed at resuming political relations.

This was discussed during a meeting between Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani and Iran's acting Foreign Minister Ali Kani in Tehran, news agency BNA reported.

A joint statement said the meeting “came within the framework of the fraternal historical relations between the kingdom of Bahrain and the Islamic republic of Iran and the bonds of religion, neighbourliness, joint history and common interests that connect them”.

Bahrain cut ties with Iran in 2016 after attacks on Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad, following the execution of Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr by Riyadh.

Bahrain’s relationship with Iran has been marked by years of tension, with Manama in the past accusing Tehran of fomenting unrest in the kingdom.

Bahrain’s resumption of political ties comes after Saudi Arabia and Iran announced last March that they had restored ties.

Manama said it welcomed the rapprochement, which was brokered by China last year.

Earlier in June, Bahrain sent a request via Russia to re-establish diplomatic relations with Iran, Iranian news outlets reported.

The following day, Ahmed Al Musallam, chairman of Bahrain's Council of Representatives, received his Iranian counterpart Mojtaba Rezakha in Manama for an Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting.

Bahrain's King Hamad with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow. EPA

In May, an Iranian delegation led by Ali Alizadeh, a member of the parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, visited Bahrain as part of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly meetings.

Bahrain’s King Hamad said last month that there was no reason to delay the resumption of diplomatic relations between the Manama and Tehran.

“We had problems with Iran, but now there are no problems at all,” he said during a meeting in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a close ally of Iran.

“There is no reason to postpone the normalisation of relations with Iran. We are trying to have normal diplomatic, commercial and cultural relations between us and them.”