Bahrain is slated to host a global maritime security summit that will focus on the Iranian threat to navigation security in the Persian Gulf, US special envoy for Iran Brian Hook and Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa announced on Wednesday.
Khalid said the conference would probably take place this autumn and would follow up on a February meeting in Poland, where 65 countries took part in a similar conference on Iran. Hook noted that the same countries will attend the summit in Manama.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The summit aims to reach comprehensive understandings on how to better address the challenge posed by Iran, which has become a growing maritime threat in the Persian Gulf.
Hook is further slated to meet with various diplomats in an effort to promote the US plan to build a maritime coalition to deter further attacks.
He said the Sentinel Program would "make it harder for Iran to disrupt freedom of commerce and navigation," he said.
Hook noted that at least 17 countries were affected by the May 12 attack on four tankers off the coast of Fujairah, which he attributed to Iran.
Khalid said US intelligence shared with Bahrain helped to prevent Iranian-sponsored attacks in the country.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "has plotted to overthrow the government of Bahrain since 1981", he said. "You see them in Syria, in Iraq, in Yemen, in eastern Saudi Arabia, and in Kuwait, a Hezbollah cell was arrested. The US has always been with us to stop malign Iranian activities but these efforts intensified under the current administration."
He stressed that Manama was not seeking regime change in Tehran, saying Bahrain would take steps to improve relations if Iran showed interest.
"What we are concerned with is the regime's behavior. If Iran takes a step forward, we will take two," he said, adding that Tehran must stop supporting terrorism.
"We need to see they are not back-stabbing us," he said.
