Iran rejects Bahrain’s new claim of meddling as ‘baseless, ridiculous’

Rasa - Tehran has dismissed Bahrain’s fresh claim of Iranian interference in the kingdom’s internal affairs, calling on the Manama regime to stop “playing a blame game” against the Islamic Republic.

News ID: 431937

Date: 25 August 2017 - 19:24

RNA - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi was responding on Friday to Manama’s new claim a day earlier that it had arrested seven “suspected members of a terror cell backed by Iran.”

This is not the first time the regime comes up with such accusatory statements.

Qassemi denounced the latest allegation as “baseless and ridiculous,” saying, “The Islamic Republic has never been a promoter of violence and destabilizing actions in neighboring countries, including Bahrain.”

Manama’s fabricated allegation coincides with revelations by human rights groups about the regime’s widespread use of torture against political prisoners in its jails, Qassemi said.

He advised Bahraini rulers against resorting to “suppression and torture” in dealing with dissidents, urging the regime to return to dialog and peaceful methods to end the political unrest in the kingdom.

The Iranian official also called on Manama to stop its attempts at misleading peaceful public protests in a crackdown backed by foreign forces and failed security tactics.

Since 2011, the Shia-majority grassroots have been holding peaceful rallies against the government’s longtime discrimination against them.

Manama has killed scores of the protesters, while trying to violently confront the dissidents. It has also been integrating Saudi Arabian and Emirati troops into its forces to toughen the crackdown.

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