Iran Urges UN Action on Bahrain

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has called on the United Nations to take firm and immediate measures to halt Manama regime’s crackdown on Bahraini people.

In a Friday letter, Salehi urged UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the president of the UN Security Council (UNSC) to take “serious and immediate action” to stop the killing of people in Bahrain.

The Iranian foreign minister made a reference to the “unimaginable” methods of clampdown on the Bahrainis, including raiding homes, kidnapping individuals, demolishing mosques, dismissal of employees and workers and disrupting routine lives of the population.

“It seems that the Security Council has not paid due attention and [has not] adopted required actions regarding the issue, while in similar developments in other regional countries we have witnessed a different reaction by the [Security] Council,” the letter reads.

Salehi insisted that the crisis in Bahrain “does not have a military solution and resorting to such approaches will further complicate the problem, ignite people’s anger and make the situation uncontrollable.

Iran cannot stay impartial with regard to the developments in Bahrain, because unless the crisis is resolved in a just and logical manner, its domino effects will destabilize the Persian Gulf region and subsequently the whole world, the letter added.

Since mid-February, thousands of anti-government protesters in Bahrain have poured into the streets, calling for an end to Al-Khalifa dynasty, which has ruled the country for over forty years.

On March 13, Saudi Arabia dispatched its armed forces to Bahrain at Manama’s request to quell countrywide protests in the small sheikhdom, which is home to the Fifth Fleet of the United States Navy, a huge military base in the Persian Gulf.

According to local sources, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds of others arrested so far during the government clampdown on peaceful protests.