Sabotage or Policy Shift? Kayhan Editor Questions Bahrain’s Sovereignty, Derides GCC Rulers as “Stooges,” “Bandits,” and “Pirates”

Following a period of relative calm in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s propaganda warfare against Gulf Cooperation Council states, Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari uses a Persian nationalist diatribe to deride Iran’s Arab neighbors. Shariatmadari’s editorial appeared in the wake of the September 16 signing of the Bahrain-U.S. security pact in Washington and the September 18 GCC meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly. In 2007, Shariatmadari authored an editorial with similar substance, which led to a diplomatic crisis between Iran and Bahrain. This editorial too can potentially harm Tehran’s recent diplomatic advances with the GCC states. It is yet not known if Shariatmadari’s recent editorial is a rogue act of sabotage or marks a radical shift in the regime’s policy.

• September 25: Shaiatmadari, editor of Kayhan, which at times is perceived as a mouthpiece for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, commenting on the September 18 Ministerial Meeting of the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council, wrote:
  • “On the sides of the United Nations General Assembly, the U.S. Secretary of State,” participating at the GCC ministerial meeting, “has issued a joint statement in which they once again insisted on the Emirates’ claim on Iran’s three islands. Previously, we wrote about Iranian sovereignty over the islands,” referencing Shariatmadari’s highly controversial July 9, 2007 editorial in which he claimed “the main demand of the people of Bahrain is the return of this province, which was severed from Iran, back to its original and maternal land, meaning Islamic Iran.”
  • Shariatmadari continued in his September 19 editorial: “In ancient history, 500 years BCE, southern parts of the Persian Gulf, which encompasses all seven countries that today form the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, were part of Iranian territory and under the rule of Achaemenid kings. It was the Achaemenids who taught harvesting of the land and agriculture to the local population in that area … Among these states, apart from Oman, which has been a kingdom since the 17th century, and Saudi Arabia, which, although founded in 1932, can be said to have a several-hundred-year history of government, the history of the rest is shorter than a century. In particular Bahrain, which is a totally different story, has been a part of Iranian territory since antiquity but was severed from Iran 50 years ago, through an illegal deal between the late shah and the governments of the United States and Iran. Today, the main demand of the people of Bahrain is the return of this severed province of our country to its original and maternal land, meaning Islamic Iran.” At the time Bahrain formally seceded from Iran, Shariatmadari wrote, “No referendum took place among the people of Bahrain, since it was not the people of Bahrain who participated. Instead of the people, some non-Bahraini tribes voted in favor of secession of Bahrain from Iran. Among these tribes was the Khalifa tribe, meaning the lackeys,” of foreign powers “currently ruling Bahrain – people who until then were bandits in the deserts of Najd. Even today, the people of Bahrain have never abandoned the Persian language and demand unification of Bahrain with its original land, meaning Iran. Since the Islamic Revolution, this demand has been pursued more energetically. Naturally, the inalienable rights of Iran and of the people of the severed province of Bahrain cannot be ignored.”
  • Turning to the United Arab Emirates, Shariatmadari wrote: “According to historical documents … the southern part of the Persian Gulf has been known as the ‘Pirates Coast’ … After the East India Company’s attack, the area today known as the United Arab Emirates changed its name into the ‘Trucial Coast’”!
  • “Without the slightest doubt, the UAE and other members of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council clearly know their claim is unfounded. They also know well that vast parts of the lands under their rule today, in particular Bahrain and the seven emirates forming the UAE, meaning Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain, were part of Iran under the Achaemenid and Sasanian dynasties. So, the question is, what is the source of their unfounded claims? Looking at existing evidence, we must look into two distinct explanations, which are not totally unrelated. First, the vengeance and deep animosity of arrogant powers toward the Islamic Revolution … The second reason … is the awakening of Muslim nations in the wake of the Islamic Revolution.”
  • The editorial concluded: “According to the 2020 census, the UAE population reached 9.9 million, only 4.1 of whom are indigenous, and 5.8 million are migrants from other nations. The indigenous population of the UAE is increasingly protesting the presence of foreigners, in particular Americans, the Europeans, and the Zionists, who are plundering the wealth of this emirate. Collaboration of Emirati authorities with the well-known enemies of Islam has intensified such protests. The UAE’s participation in the war in Yemen and crimes committed against the innocent people of Yemen, in their alliance with the Saudis, along with their close relations with the Zionist regime, have provoked popular discontent against the stooges ruling the emirate. The indigenous population speaks of the Islamic Republic of Iran as their role model. This is why member states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council are engaged in futile exercises against Islamic Iran!”

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