Bahrain's Parliament has demanded the government end all trade with Iran. It approved an urgent proposal presented by five MPs led by Jamal Buhassan during its weekly session yesterday. The document included preventing Bahrainis from travelling to Iran, ending all commercial relations and stopping all aviation and maritime traffic.
Twenty-eight of 40 MPs were present during the session, of which 16 voted in favour of the proposal, four rejected it and eight abstained. It comes a day after Bahrain severed diplomatic ties with Iran due to its blatant interference in internal affairs. The Cabinet announced the decision to recall Bahrain’s diplomatic personnel on Monday and ordered the Foreign Ministry to shut down the mission in Tehran. It also gave Iranian diplomats in Bahrain 48 hours to leave the country.
MP Khaled Al Shaer initially requested the proposal be reviewed for economic impact by the concerned parliamentary committee before being referred to the Cabinet, but he later withdrew it. During debate on the proposal, MP Mohammed Millad urged his colleagues to understand the difference between cutting commercial relations and political ties. “It is understandable that diplomatic action should be taken by removing one ambassador from here and there amongst other political actions, but business is business and this proposal is dangerous and shouldn’t be allowed to be given the go-ahead,” he said.
“In the next few days, our national carrier Gulf Air will pay the price as it will start losing again, and the government will come here asking for a new bailout. “We need to understand the financial aspect of this or else our economy will face the repercussions and the consequences will be devastating.”
However, Mr Buhassan said Iran was the core of terrorism in the region and should be punished. “Their involvement in Iraq, Syria and the political turmoil in Lebanon along with their interferences in Yemen and their support to terrorist groups shows the destruction they are involved in,” he said. “We are trying to protect our citizens who want to go Iran from being subjected to violent attacks and being lured into terrorism.
“We have to protect the country from this lousy neighbour and the general interests of Bahrain require comprehensive action, which are beyond money and financial gain – Gulf Air is losing whether the Iranian destination is operational or not.”
In response, Mr Al Shaer, who voted in favour of the proposal, said a balance between economy and security had to be reached. “We have several Bahraini companies that have deals with Iranian traders and vice versa – before the government takes any decision it has to get an economic opinion,” he said. “No one disagrees that more action against Iran is needed, but we need to know more. “The UAE reduced its diplomatic representation and scope of trade, but they didn’t stop everything – even if we stopped it should be for a specific period.”
Meanwhile, Nasser Al Qaseer said if Gulf Air stopped flying to the three Iranian destinations – Tehran, Shiraz and Mashhad – then it would have to pay millions of dinars in compensation. “We have to think on a broader scale – Gulf Air has other competitors in the GCC that will jump for the chance to fly to these profitable destinations, which have helped the airline recover from losses in just three years since the overhaul,” said the MP, who is the chairman of parliament’s human rights committee.
Bahrain’s decision to sever diplomatic ties followed Saudi Arabia’s announcement to cut ties with Iran hours after demonstrators stormed and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in protest over the execution of 47 terrorists. The Foreign Affairs Ministry, in a statement, said that “Bahrain will take relevant actions for the implementation of the decision to cut ties with Iran”.
By Mohammed Al A'Ali
