IRAN: Tensions increase as second Iranian flotilla to Bahrain is blocked

Iranian supporters of Shiite dissidents in Bahrain saw their second flotilla in less than a month turned back from the Persian Gulf kingdom Monday. 

The 120 people aboard the two-ship "flotilla of solidarity" included a mix of workers, athletes, lawmakers, physicians and nurses, according to the semi-official Iranian Mehr News Agency. They had left the Iranian port of Bushehr, traveled a dozen nautical miles and were approaching international waters when they were forced to return to port by the Iranian coast guard, according to Mehr News.

There was speculation that the ships, including one named Ayat al-Ghermezi after the late Bahraini dissident poet allegedly raped and murdered by security forces, were barred from entering Bahraini waters after being intercepted by Gulf warships. 

Shaykh Fawwaz Bin-Muhammad Al-Khalifah, president of the Bahraini Information Affairs Authority, told Al Arabiya satellite network that the Persian Gulf states had responded to what he believed was "Iranian interference."

"The state of Kuwait has sent naval forces to the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is participating with its sister nations in the Peninsula Shield in deterring any assault against the Kingdom of Bahrain," Al-Khalifah said.

For weeks, Bahraini authorities have criticized Iran's decision to dispatch the ships, claiming it was an infringement on Bahraini sovereignty. The kingdom has faced opposition from anti-government protesters since February, many of whom have been detained in a bloody crackdown of pro-democracy movements.

Nasser Al Fadhala, a former member of Bahrain's parliament, announced Thursday that "Iran should stop interfering in our country's issues. By sending this aid flotilla to Bahrain they are highlighting their propaganda to support those people, who failed to overthrow our regime," according to the pro-Bahraini government Gulf Daily newspaper.

Bahraini scholar Shaykh Salah Al-Jowdir said the flotilla was an act of war and warned that anyone who tried to enter Bahraini national waters would be intercepted.

Iran's government has tried to support Shiites in Bahrain, which until 1960 was the 14th province of Iran. According to the semi-official news agency Fars News, Iranians paying tribute to those who died in the Iran-Iraq war signed a scroll in March showing their solidarity with Bahrain's “oppressed people.”

On Monday, the Iranian foreign ministry hosted Bahraini dissident Saeed Alshabi for a seminar addressing the uprising in Bahrain during which he accused western nations, Saudi and Jordanian monarchies of collaborating to suppress pro-democracy protests there.

-- Roula Hajjar in Beirut, and Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran

Photo: A ship in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran carrying Iranian activists toward Bahrain as a Bahraini flag is seen in the foreground. On Monday, two ships carrying 120 Iranian hard-line activists left for Bahrain, part of an effort to show solidarity with the Shiite majority population of the tiny island nation. Credit: Mohsen Norouzi Fard/Mehr News Agency

Comments

[Bahraini]

Well, I am a Bahraini Shiite and I am against such silly move from the Iranian government. We wish they keep quiet so the world can help us. Whenever we call for reforms, they will just accuse us of being provoked by Iran. However, it is a bit different this time. If you follow the newspapers here in Bahrain you will get so confused. The papers which are being supported publicly by the government are leaving their readers so mixed up that they will accuse every nation of provoking the protesters. While some authors write about how the Iranian government are recruiting prominent scholars in Bahrain and how the decision is being made in "Qom", others pointed fingers at the Americans. Other people even went so far and blamed the British Ambassador of giving orders to Al Wifaq and others to take on the street. This is not the full story, even if these papers are being supported by the government and direct them to whatever destination. Well that should be fine, until the King blew it and said that Iran has nothing to do with all what happend, and that it was an internal affair!
This is not new to our King, because on the 15th of Feb he went on TV and apologized for those two who were killed, and he said that you do have the right to protest before he gave the order on the 16th night to his mercenaries to kill those gathered in the Pear Square in 3 AM.

Even if we do not get support from you "US" or all the world, we will emerge victorious, simply because God will be on our side.

[ali]

@Mohammad ali, Bahraini regime blew up a 400 year old mosque. So You cannot speak for Bahrainis. Only occupation forces and their collaborators do such things.

[mohammed ali]

@ jane

the iranians turned it away not the bahrainis
quick correction to the editor bahrain was never part of iran in th 1960s

[mohammed ali]

now thats really funny who said that we need aid from iran , the kingdom of bahrain doesnt need aid , let iran use it to help thier own people who are living in poverty , and who said bahrain send them back its the iranain who did that ,
and to all reader "'the ships, including one named Ayat al-Ghermezi after the late Bahraini dissident poet allegedly raped and murdered by security forces' thats so un true Ayat was not raped and killed that baseless facts , and since when are the iranians with democrasy , or did u people forget what happen last year when ahmadi najad falsed the elections and killed and hanged the protesters ,
at the end id like to say to who ever wrote this article that your being baised , and i guess would you write about the protesters trying and killing the police , cuz wat i know that in the states cop killers are not heros

[Ray]

@ Jane:

First, Israel didn't turn away the flotillas. Israel boarded the flotillas and attacked and killed peace activists on board. There's a stark difference between turning away and attacking and killing those on board.

Second, the flotillas Israel attacked were headed for Gaza NOT Israel. Whereas these flotillas were headed for Bahrain and turned away by Bahrain.

[Verballistic]

Iran has been provoking the protesters from the beginning...building a Shi'ite stronghold in Bahrain would be a great step toward controlling the ENTIRE Persian Gulf region. The tyrannical Iran regime already has become a MAJOR player in the politics of Iraq, especially in the southern region, where Shi'ite Muslims predominate.

I'm not saying the Shi'ites in Bahrain do not have legit beefs with the Bahrain kingdom, they clearly do. By the same token, Iran is using this to maximize their own political advantage. Adolf AhmadineJihad would love to use Bahrain as a stepping stone for TOTAL control of the Persian Gulf shipping lanes so that madman & his MILITANT Islamic cleric handlers could control the flow of oil to the rest of the world.

[jane]

Where is the world outrage on the aid ship being turned away...why when Israel did it the UN went nuts! Double standard again!