Iran summons Bahrain’s envoy in Tehran

Manama: Iran’s foreign ministry has summoned Bahrain’s charge d’affaires in Tehran to protest at Manama’s statement that the five members of a busted cell allegedly plotting terror acts in Bahrain had links with the Revolutionary Guards.

Hossein Kamalian, a foreign ministry director general, rejected at the meeting held late on Sunday the accusations that he said served the interests of the enemies of the region, Fars News Agency reported.

Earlier, this month, Bahrain’s interior ministry and public prosecution said that they arrested with the help of neighbouring Qatar the five men who reportedly plotted to target the Saudi embassy in Manama, the interior ministry building and the King Fahad causeway, the 25-kilometre terrestrial link between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Four of the suspects were arrested by Qatar as they planned to fly from there to Syria and Iran while the fifth was detained after his name was given out during the quizzing.

Relations between Manama and Tehran have reached their lowest level after Bahrain accused Iran of blatant interference in its domestic affairs, a charge that Iran denied.

A meeting held between the two foreign ministers on the sideline of the United Nations general assembly in New York yielded no immediate concrete results and neither country has allowed its ambassador to regain their posts.