 Bahrain has determined that Iran was sponsoring anti-regime activities in the Gulf Arab kingdom. Arab diplomatic sources said Bahrain's intelligence services have obtained evidence that Iranian operatives were directing some of the Shi'ite unrest in the Gulf Cooperation Council state. The sources said Bahrain has warned Iran to immediately end this activity or face a crisis in relations. Bahraini authorities have been alarmed by the Ashura march of Shi'ites in Manama in which participants displayed huge posters of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah. The sources said a Bahraini investigation determined that the Shi'ites were ordered by Iranian regime elements to march with the posters in support of Teheran. "For Bahrain, this was the breaking point," an Arab diplomat said. "This was a gross interference in Bahrain's affairs of the kind not seen in a decade." |