TEHRAN -- Iran has dismissed Bahrain’s accusations linking Tehran to what was claimed to be a foiled bomb attack in the kingdom, saying the regime in Manama will not be able to cover up its woes at home and abroad with such baseless allegations.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh rejected the Bahraini interior ministry’s claims that the kingdom had arrested a number of suspects “linked with terrorist groups in Iran” and confiscated weapons and explosives ahead of a “planned terrorist operations against security and civil peace.”
Khatibzadeh said making “such baseless claims simultaneously with the IISS Manama Dialogue, which has turned into a tribune against Iran, shows Bahrain’s lack of comprehension about regional issues.”
He added that the Bahraini government had put its relations with the illegitimate Israeli regime above ties with its own people and refused to fulfill their righteous civil demands.
“The Bahraini government cannot cover up its problems inside and outside by leveling such false accusations,” the Iranian official added.
Bahrain, one of the closest U.S. allies in the region and host to the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet and other international naval operations, has often made groundless accusations against Iran, claiming that Tehran seeks to destabilize Manama. Iran has always denied such allegations.
The accusation came as Bahrain was ordered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague to pay over 200 million euros in damages plus costs to two Iranian banks for the unlawful expropriation of their banking venture in Manama in an act of “political retribution”.
Iran’s largest lenders Bank Melli and Bank Saderat had siny Persian Gulf country before the international arbitration court in the Netherlands for confiscating nearly $1.3 billion worth of Iranian funds.
The funds belonged to Future Bank established as a joint venture between Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank and the two Iranian lenders in 2004 when Bahraini leaders were seeking to mend strained relations with their vastly larger neighbor to the north.
In January 2016, however, Bahrain’s central bank said it was taking steps to close down Future Bank after Manama cut diplomatic ties with Tehran, following its neighbor Saudi Arabia in severing relations with the Islamic Republic.
In July this year, Bahrain’s top court upheld a money-laundering verdict against Future Bank, the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks. The ruling, issued in April 2018, included jail terms of up to 10 years for Future Bank officials and confiscation of funds.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, however, decided Monday that the Iranian institutions had been the target of “political retribution” and ordered Bahrain to pay over 200 million euros in damages plus costs to the banks. ued the