MANAMA — Bahrain condemned Iran in the strongest terms on Sunday after its air defences intercepted and destroyed a drone attack that day, and it held Tehran fully responsible, the Bahrain News Agency reported.
The attack on Sunday, Nov. 15, followed the interception of two drones on Friday, Nov. 13. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has explicitly claimed responsibility for both attacks, Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry said.
The Bahrain Defence Force, in a separate announcement, said Iran was continuing a systematic hostile approach through attacks targeting the kingdom. Its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed a number of Iranian aerial attacks on Sunday before they reached their targets, the force said, and all its weapons and units were at the highest level of readiness.
The Foreign Ministry commended the Defence Force for its vigilance and effectiveness in repelling the latest attack. It reaffirmed the force’s readiness to deter further aggression.
A breach of Resolution 2817
The attacks amount to a resumption of Iran’s aggression against Bahrain and other countries in the region, the ministry said. They violate international law and the UN Charter, it said, and are a flagrant violation of Bahrain’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, a breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2817 and a threat to the safety of citizens and residents and to regional security and stability.
The ministry rejected the Revolutionary Guard’s justifications, calling them baseless. No pretext can legitimise violations of state sovereignty, it said. Freedom of navigation and transit through international straits, by sea and by air, is guaranteed under international law and cannot be subject to any state’s conditions, and Bahrain rejected the use of its territory to settle accounts.
Under Article 51 of the UN Charter, Bahrain affirmed its inherent right to individual and collective self-defence, and said it would take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and the security of its citizens and residents. Bahrain would coordinate closely with its allies and partners, the ministry said. That includes fellow Gulf Cooperation Council states. Under the Joint Defence Agreement, an attack on any one member is an attack on all of them.
As a member of the Security Council, Bahrain called on the Council to condemn the repeated attacks and take decisive action. Such action, it said, should ensure Iran’s full compliance with Resolution 2817, end its attacks and threats, and stop its support for proxy groups in the region. The ministry stressed that Bahrain’s security is a red line and its sovereignty is non-negotiable.
Saudi Arabia voices solidarity
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry condemned and denounced the Iranian aerial attacks on Bahrain in the strongest terms, and affirmed its full solidarity with Bahrain in all measures it takes to protect its security and stability.
The Saudi ministry said the attacks violate international law and the principles of good neighborliness. It stressed the importance of an immediate halt to the Iranian attacks on countries in the region, and of serious steps toward security and stability for the region’s countries and peoples.
The condemnations came two days after U.S. forces downed two Iranian drones launched toward Bahrain, a development Virginia Times covered on Friday. Bahrain said it remained committed to good-neighbourly relations, respect for state sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs, and to preserving security and stability in the Arabian Gulf.