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| Arabia |
| Bahrain rejects Iran sovereignty comments |
| 2009-02-23 |
| Bahrain has criticised as irresponsible reported remarks by an Iranian official that questioned the Gulf Arab kingdom's sovereignty and caused a diplomatic furore in the region. According to media reports, Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, a close adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said earlier this month that Iran had sovereignty over Bahrain. Interference: "If these statements are meant to test the waters then the response was clear internally and externally, and this was affirmed by the magnitude of Gulf Arab and international condemnation to these irresponsible statements," Bahraini Interior Minister Sheikh Rashed Bin Abdullah al-Khalifa told the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. "It should not interfere in our internal affairs..." he said of Iran in an interview published on Sunday. Iran has repeatedly denied having claims over Bahrain but the tensions have underscored the deep suspicions between Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab nations and non-Arab, Shia Muslim Iran. |
| Posted by:Fred |