As with Russia and Ukraine or China and Taiwan, Tehran’s insistence that the island nation is a lost province is a red flag for US interests.
While the world’s attention toward Iran has focused on the failing nuclear talks, Tehran has been ramping up a renewed territorial claim that threatens serious long-term instability in the Persian Gulf. In recent weeks, the tightly controlled Iranian media have been reviving long-dormant claims that Bahrain, a key US ally, is the “14th province” of Iran, known as Mishmahig.
Irredentist grievances along these lines drive countless conflicts, but it’s particularly alarming that Tehran is suddenly reviving this one, which comes on top of a renewed dispute with the United Arab Emirates over three small Gulf Islands currently held by Iran. Bahrain is vital to American interests: It hosts the US Fifth Fleet and the 34-nation Combined Maritime Forces coalition, which pursues missions in antipiracy, maritime security and counterterrorism.
History shows Iran’s demand is baseless. In November 1957, under the shah, Iran formally laid claim to the island, a British protectorate since 1861. Tehran declared it a province and awarded it two parliamentary seats (which were never claimed). However, after heavy British and US pressure and a United Nations survey showing overwhelming public support in Bahrain for independence, in 1971 Iran recognized the island nation as a sovereign state.
Yet ever since, Bahrainis have often felt under a suspended Persian death sentence. After the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran sought to export its ideology into the Arab world, particularly countries with large Shiite populations like Bahrain. For the most part, Iranian meddling was not aimed at restoring direct rule, but at supporting Shiite efforts to gain more power, creating a pro-Iranian government in the capital, Manama, and perhaps overthrowing the Sunni ruling family. A failed Iranian-backed coup attempt in 1981 was followed by periods of warmer and cooler relations.
Tensions have been rising between the two nations since 2016, when Bahrain joined other Gulf Arab countries in suspending diplomatic ties with Iran after mob attacks against Saudi diplomatic facilities. That year, Bahrain revoked the citizenship of Shiite cleric and opposition leader Isa Qassim, prompting threats of vengeance from Iran. (In 2018, Qassim was allowed to travel to London for medical treatment and now lives in Iran.)
Things intensified in 2020, when Bahrain followed the UAE in normalizing relations with Israel. This year, Israel supplied early warning radar systems to both countries, and a uniformed Israeli officer was deployed to the naval security consortium in Manama, drawing more Iranian ire.
In August, Iran’s media commemorated Bahrain’s 51st Independence Day with an explosion of rage against the country’s autonomy and the regime of the deposed shah for having recognized it. The government-run media have repeatedly broadcast a film called “A Separation,” reiterating these grievances. On Sept. 8, the Fars News Agency of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps republished a notorious 2007 editorial from the Kayhan newspaper that outlined Iran’s claim on the islands, which was backed up by the Foreign Ministry spokesman.
It’s no coincidence Iran is just now ramping up these specious claims, formally resolved half a century ago. Teheran’s belligerence raises the stakes surrounding the nuclear talks by threatening greater regional instability. It’s also clearly a response Bahrain’s developing closer ties with Israel. But that’s a self-fulfilling concern for Iran.
Once the UAE took the plunge of normalization with Israel two years ago, following suit was a no-brainer for Bahrain. Unlike the other Abraham Accords states, including Sudan and Morocco, Bahrain didn’t have any demands for Washington before signing on. Making common cause with the country doing the military heavy lifting against Iran’s activities and its network of militia groups in countries like Syria and Iraq was sufficient impetus. Iran’s renewed claims on Bahrain will only reinforce the view in Manama that normalizing with Israel was a good idea.
Just like Ukraine, Bahrain is a sovereign member state of the UN. This gives the US a moral imperative, in addition to national interest considerations, in explicitly rebuffing Iran’s claims. Washington and its allies, especially the other Gulf Arab countries, should make it clear that Persian ambitions in Bahrain won’t get any further in the 21st century than they did in the 20th.