Iran, Bahrain agree to initiate rapprochement talks

Iran and Bahrain have agreed to start negotiations to explore ways of resuming bilateral diplomatic ties.

The agreement was made during a Sunday meeting between Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain, and Ali Bagheri Kani, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tehran.

At the invitation of the acting Iranian foreign minister, the top Bahraini diplomat is in Tehran to attend the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) meeting.

Following the meeting, in a joint statement, the two countries reaffirmed the religious ties, neighborhood, common history, and mutual interests between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The statement read within the framework of the historical brotherly ties between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain, and Ali Bagheri Kani, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran had a bilateral meeting on Sunday, June 23rd, in Tehran.

It added during the meeting, the two sides agreed to establish the necessary mechanisms to start talks between the two countries to examine the resumption of political ties.

Bahrain severed diplomatic ties with Iran on 4 January 2016, accusing Tehran of interference in Saudi internal affairs after Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr. The execution led to a protest rally in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the raids by angry protestors at the mission.

The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran had at the time said the damage to the embassy was not justifiable.

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