By DINA AL-SHIBEEB
Al Arabiya with Agencies
In defiance of Gulf Arab States, Iranian activists are getting ready to send a flotilla to Bahrain next
week to show their solidarity with the “oppressed people” of the majority Shiite country, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
The head of the Shiite Iran’s Islamic Revolution Supporters Society, Mehdi Eghrarian, said the vessels will depart for Bahrain from the Southern Iranian port of Bushehr on Monday.
Mr. Eghrarian said the flotilla would represent an act of condemnation of Bahrain’s minority Sunni rulers for violently cracking down on a Shiite-led protest movement that began in mid-February.
If the Iranians do indeed organize the flotilla, they would run the risk of encountering armed resistance from Bahraini and GCC-supported naval vessels. That, in turn, would raise the specter of a confrontation in the Gulf. And the situation would also pose questions about the role of the US Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain.
The Shiite-led protesters in Bahrain are demanding a constitutional monarchy and protesting against the political naturalization of Sunni foreigners. Such naturalization, they say, is a way to tilt the kingdom’s demographics to reflect a Sunni majority, which the Shiites argue is far from Bahrain’s demographic reality.
Last month the Gulf States postponed without stating a date the Arab League Summit in Baghdad due to Iraq’s backing of opposition protests in Bahrain.
According to the society’s head, the flotilla will be named after a female Bahraini poet who he says was “raped and killed” by Bahraini forces during the crackdown.
According to the AP the status of the woman, Ayat al-Ghermezi, could not be confirmed.
The Bahrain uprising has created tremors elsewhere in the region.
Shiites in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon have shown solidarity with the Shiite-led Bahrain opposition.
In March, Bahrain expelled dozens of Shiite Lebanese for alleged ties to Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard after endorsement by the GCC to undertake such expulsion.
The Gulf Arab countries in the current summit meeting in Riyadh continued their denunciation of Iranian intervention.
Bahraini King Hamad al-Khalifa has promised to lift a state of emergency on June 1 after imposing the measure in mid-March. Demonstrators want the king to introduce a constitutional monarchy that gives majority Shiites a fair representation in government.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister, Heidar Salehi, warned of “repercussions” if the situation in Bahrain did not improve while he was on his Gulf tour.
One Gulf observer in Dubai said Tuesday night, “It seems to be the season for high political drama.”
(Dina Al-Shibeeb of Al Arabiya can be reached at: dina.ibrahim@mbc.net)
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