Bahrain Police Announce Arrest of 'Five Individuals Linked to Iran'

On Thursday, July 31, Bahrain announced that it had dismantled a cell linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran that was planning attacks in the country and arrested five individuals in this regard. According to Reuters, Bahrain's police stated that bomb-making materials, weapons, and knives were found in the homes of these five individuals. In recent months, Bahrain has once again witnessed rising tensions between the majority Shia and the ruling Sunni minority in the country. According to a statement released by Bahrain's Ministry of Interior, the police said that the five detainees had received military training in Iran and Iraq. Tehran and Baghdad have not yet responded to this claim. Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf and is a close ally of Saudi Arabia, regularly accuses Iran of interfering in its internal affairs and fueling protests among the Shia population. Tehran has denied these accusations but has criticized the rulers of Bahrain for what it calls an intensification of repression while supporting Shia opposition groups in Bahrain. The protests of the Shia community in Bahrain, which began in 2011 alongside the Arab Spring, were suppressed with the help of Saudi Arabia. Since last June, Bahrain has taken a series of punitive measures against political activists, including the arrest of prominent political activist Nabil Rajab and the revocation of citizenship from Sheikh Isa Qassim, the spiritual leader of the Shia in the country. Last Tuesday, Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, stated that Bahrain's recent decision to dissolve the main opposition party, Al-Wefaq, would pose a risk of escalating tensions. The ruling to dissolve this party and confiscate its assets was issued on July 27. Bahram Qasemi, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, emphasized on the same day that the dissolution of 'moderate and centrist groups' and the revocation of citizenship from political and religious leaders 'respected by the people of Bahrain' is 'not in the interests of the Bahraini government.' John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, also reacted to the dissolution of 'Al-Wefaq' the next day, stating that 'the court ruling is another step in the concerning actions in Bahrain.' The Bahraini government's revocation of Sheikh Isa Qassim's citizenship also led to an escalation of protests in the country and provoked strong anger from Iranian officials, while the United States expressed concern over such a decision. In this context, Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, issued an unprecedented statement on June 31, threatening the Bahraini government that the revocation of Sheikh Isa Qassim's citizenship would lead to 'armed resistance' and the 'fall of the Bahraini regime.'