TDT | Manama

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MPs have hit out at claims in Iran’s Kayhan newspaper over Bahrain, calling them an attack on the kingdom’s rule, Arab identity and right to run its own affairs.

MP Hassan Ebrahim, MP Ahmed Al Salloom and MP Zainab Abdulameer rejected the remarks by the paper's editor-in-chief, saying old claims against Bahrain had been settled long ago by law, history and the will of its people.

Ebrahim said the remarks crossed the line and went against good neighbourly ties. Bahrain, he said, was a fully free and self-governing Arab state, recognised by the world and a member of the United Nations. “Bahrain does not need anyone to affirm its identity or belonging,” he said. He said Bahrainis had shown, time and again, their loyalty to their homeland and to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Claims that cast doubt on Bahrain’s rule or the will of its people would fail, he said. They would only harden Bahrainis' resolve to stand by their country.

Al Salloom, chairman of Parliament's financial and economic affairs committee, said the Kayhan article revived ‘political illusions’ defeated by history, geography and world law. Bahrain’s Arab identity and legal standing, he said, were not open to debate.

He said the remarks were not stray words, but part of a pattern of hostile speech aimed at Bahrain and other Gulf states.

Abdulameer said the Kayhan claims were false and amounted to meddling in Bahrain’s own affairs. She said Bahrain’s Arab identity, freedom and self-rule had been settled through the United Nations-led process in 1970, when Bahrainis made clear their wish for an independent Arab state. Any claim that Bahrainis wanted to join Iran was ‘false and fabricated,’ she said.

Ms Abdulameer said Bahrain’s security choices, treaties and foreign ties were matters for Bahrain alone, driven by the country’s own needs. She said such rhetoric breached the United Nations Charter and the rules of good neighbourly ties.