US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday gently pressed Bahrain on human rights as he praised security co-operation with the Gulf monarchy, where the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based.
Sporadic violence targeting Bahrain’s security forces has continued since pro-democracy, Shia-led protests in 2011.
At a news conference, Kerry was circumspect in addressing human rights in Bahrain.
“Bahrain is a critical security partner of the US,” Kerry said.
“Here, as in all nations, we believe that respect for human rights and an inclusive political system are essential in order to allow citizens to be able to reach and live out their full potential.”.
Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifah defended his nation’s rights policies and said activist Zeinab al-Khawaja, who is serving a two-month prison sentence with her child for tearing up a photo of the king, would be freed although the case against her will continue to be pursued.
Sheikh Khaled also criticised Iran for its recent ballistic missile tests and accused it of “hegemonic interventions through proxies in several parts of our region,” a reference to Iranian support for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war, for the Houthis in the Yemen conflict and for Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Concerns about Iranian behaviour are the underlying reason for Kerry’s visit to the region as well as for an April 21 summit in Riyadh that President Barack Obama will attend.
That summit aims to reassure Arab states of US support and protection following the July 14 nuclear agreement under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
Other topics to be covered in Riyadh include ending the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and fighting Islamic State.
Kerry, who briefly visited US naval forces in Manama and climbed aboard US vessels
to speak to US sailors, said US and allied navies had interdicted four arms shipments believed to be from Iran in recent months.
The US military had said earlier in the week that US ships in the Arabian Sea intercepted and seized an arms shipment from Iran likely bound for Houthi forces in Yemen.
“We call on Iran to help us end the war in Yemen, not prolong it, help us end the war in Syria, not intensify it,” Kerry said.