Bahrain Split

Reason for Bahrain Split

ISNA report, citing information, the land of Bahrain was part of the Iranian empire in ancient times; But in most periods of history, it had a local and autonomous government. The Portuguese occupied Bahrain once in the 19th century, and after that, Al Khalifa ruled this land for a while. With the departure of Al-Khalifa, Bahrain also had a local government and was governed by the supervision of the British Empire.

The beginning of the story

During the Qajar era and at the beginning of the Pahlavi rule, the British government handed over the sovereignty of Bahrain to Iran, and after that Iran tried to officially annex Bahrain to its territory. In fact, until 1299, the Iranian government tried eleven times to officially bring Bahrain under its rule. Even during Mossadegh's prime ministership, an empty seat in the National Assembly was designated as the representative of Bahrain to symbolically declare Iran's sovereignty over the southern land, and Bahrain was introduced as Iran's fourteenth master on geographical maps. All this happened while Bahrain had an independent government that had no political and diplomatic ties with Iran.

A few years later, in 1336, the National Council officially approved the plan to annex Bahrain to Iran as the 14th province, and Iran officially asserted its sovereignty over this island. The Saudi government also wanted to establish a union in which Bahrain is recognized as an independent country. Manouchehr Iqbal, the prime minister at the time, said in response to one of the members of parliament about this rumor: "We will cut off our political relations forever with any government that tries to make an agreement with Bahrain." We consider such actions as a hostile method towards us and an aggression against our sovereignty, and we will fight against it until the last drop of our blood." Despite these statements, the Saudi government at the same time signed an agreement with the ruler of Bahrain, which made Saudi Arabia a partner in Bahrain's oil. Iran's Foreign Ministry protested against this issue and called it a violation of Iran's rights and invalid. In the years after the August 28 coup and until 1340, there were several talks of a military attack to take Bahrain, but it never materialized.

Independence of Bahrain

In 1343, Britain conducted secret negotiations with the Iranian government and offered to hand over the three islands of Great Tunb, Small Tunb and Abu Musa, where British soldiers were present, in exchange for the independence of Bahrain, and made the Shah to give up the claim that Bahrain belongs to Iran.

In 1347, Saudi Arabia welcomed the Emir of Bahrain as the head of a country. Mohammad Reza Shah canceled his trip to Saudi Arabia in protest. But this protest did not come to fruition and the Shah officially traveled to Saudi Arabia in the same year. After conducting negotiations with the Saudi government, the Shah announced for the first time in 1347 that Iran is ready to give up its ownership claim on Bahrain.

At the same time, the United Nations also got involved and conducted a survey among the people of Bahrain. The people of Bahrain voted with the majority of votes in favor of the independence of this country, and the United Nations prepared a report on Bahrain's desire for independence from Iran. Based on this report, the Security Council approved Bahrain's independence from Iran and Bahrain separated from Iran on 23 August 1349. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the first person to congratulate the people and their government on the independence of Bahrain and the United Nations recognized Bahrain as an independent country.

The strong protest of the Pan-Iranian party

These measures caused pan-Iranian parties to attack the government. In fact, during the separation of Bahrain from Iran, the MPs were not able to protest and the only protesting representative was none other than the leader of Iran's Pan-Iranist Party, Mohsen Mesichpour. Meschikpour made a passionate speech in the parliament, and the tip of the attack was not Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, but the Hoyda government! In the 182nd meeting of the National Council, which was held on the 9th of April 1349, Mesichpour proposed the impeachment motion of the government, and after that, from the first hours of the evening of the 9th of April 1349, Pan-Iranist clubs throughout the country were attacked by the police and SAVAK and occupied. Also, about 200 of its members were arrested. Although the original decision of Bahrain's separation from Iran was taken by Mohammad Reza Shah, the members of the Pan-Iranist Party declared that this separation was a colonial conspiracy to weaken the Iranian monarchy, which was carried out by the Freemasons.