It is very important that the Iranian government recognises its destructive policy of sponsoring violence across the Arab world must stop. It is shocking that Iran has persisted in this senseless folly and mounted a terrorist operation in Bahrain which would have led to a number of sizable terrorist attacks in the near future. It is greatly to the credit of the Bahraini authorities that the network was identified this week and 47 suspects were arrested, and a range of high-grade explosives and a bomb-making facility and an explosives laboratory were discovered.
Iran has a desperate policy of using its sectarian affiliations to seek alliances throughout the Arab world, and has nurtured its links with groups in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen as well as Bahrain. It has been able to foster discontent and has used these links to try to further destabilise the region at a time when there is far too much violence, and many nation states have collapsed. If Iran wants to play a positive regional role it would do well to stop creating mayhem and work with the governments of the region to foster the rule of law and stability.
