US embassy cable - 05MANAMA270

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAMA 000270 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/27/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, BA, IR 
SUBJECT: BAHRAIN PROTESTS IRANIAN INTERFERENCE IN INTERNAL 
AFFAIRS 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe.  Reason: 1.4 (b) (d) 
 
 1. (S) Summary.  MFA MinState Abdel Ghaffar delivered a 
sharp message to the Ambassador February 27 outlining his 
government's deep concern about Iranian interference in 
Bahrain's internal affairs, which he said reached a zenith 
during recent Ashura celebrations.  The MFA summoned the 
Iranian Ambassador the previous day to protest Iranian 
activities.  Abdel Ghaffar also had harsh words for Shia 
opposition leader Ali Salman and leading Shia cleric Isa 
Qassim, calling the latter an agent of Iran.  He also 
expressed concerns about presumed new Iraqi Prime Minister 
Ja'fari, saying he did not believe him when he said he wanted 
an inclusive government in Iraq.  He worried that Shia 
governments in Iraq and Iran could be a dangerous development 
for Bahrain.  While Bahrain has welcomed and supported the 
positive impact of a democratic, post-Saddam Iraq, this 
demarche is a reminder that Bahrain's leadership, already 
wary of Iran, is apprehensive about the possible impact that 
Shia success in Iraq might have in Bahrain as it loosens 
controls and moves towards democracy.  End summary. 
 
2. (S) Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Mohammed 
Abdel Ghaffar summoned the Ambassador February 27 to express 
his government's deep concern about growing Iranian 
interference in Bahrain's internal affairs.  He accused Iran 
of using Bahrain's openness and democracy to penetrate into 
Shia society.  He said the Iranians were operating smartly, 
for the most part not going through their Embassy in Bahrain. 
 The zenith of these activities, he said, came during Ashura. 
 While many Shia celebrated Ashura as a religious event, 
there are others who politicized the celebrations for their 
own gain (he cited as examples Shia opposition leader Ali 
Salman and leading Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim).  During 
Ashura, pictures of Khomeini and Khamenei proliferated in 
Shia villages (more and larger than usual, he said). Even 
more worrisome, camps were set up to offer ideological 
training to youth.  Calling these camps "very dangerous," he 
said that Bahraini authorities found in the camps Hizbollah 
logos as well as numerous American and Israeli flags drawn on 
the ground for people to stomp on. 
 
3. (S) Abdel Ghaffar said that Foreign Minister Shaikh 
Mohammed had called in the Iranian Ambassador the previous 
day to "give him a strong message" and protest Iranian 
support for these activities.  The Iranian Ambassador denied 
any Iranian involvement, Abdel Ghaffar stated, "but we know 
they are behind this."  The Ambassador noted that there have 
been reports that the King might be traveling to Iran at some 
point.  Abdel Ghaffar said that any thought of the King 
traveling to Iran is now off. 
 
4. (S) Amplifying his accusations against Al-Wifaq (major 
Shia opposition society) leader Ali Salman and Shia cleric 
Sheikh Isa Qassim, Abdel Ghaffar stated that Al-Wifaq is 
affiliated with the Ulama conference under the presidency of 
Sheikh Isa Qassim and that Isa Qassim is an agent of Iran who 
believes that Iran should rule everywhere in the region.  "He 
is a very dangerous man," he stated. 
 
5. (C) Abdel Ghaffar stated that the leadership is 
considering what to do next.  "We hate to take decisions to 
curb freedom of speech, and we will not do this.  But we have 
to figure out how to deal with the radical Shia.  He said he 
personally did not think that a lot of space should be given 
to religious groups in politics.  "One of the problems with 
democracy in our region," he stated, "is that when you give 
people more freedom, bad groups can exploit this freedom for 
their own sectarian purposes."   He cited the Arab Thought 
Forum, currently taking place in Bahrain under the 
chairmanship of Jordan's Prince Hassan, as an attempt to 
develop a counteracting voice of moderation in Islam.  In his 
new concurrent position as Minister of Information, he hoped 
to similarly promote moderation through Bahrain's broadcast 
media. 
 
6. (C) Although Bahrain's leadership has been supportive of 
developments in Iraq, Abdel Ghaffar raised concerns about the 
direction a Shia government there might take once it controls 
the government.  He was particularly apprehensive about 
Ibrahim Al-Ja'fari if he became the new Prime Minister, 
noting that Da'wa was a radical Shia movement that has a 
message for the whole region.  "I don't believe him for a 
second when he says everyone should participate," he said. 
"We have an expression in Arabic: I tell you what you want to 
hear, and I hide in my heart what I plan to do."  He 
maintained the hope that somehow Allawi could become Prime 
Minister.  The Ambassador noted that Bahrain's leadership had 
been positively impressed with the moderate message that 
Abdel-Aziz Al-Hakim had brought to Bahrain several weeks ago, 
and wondered what had changed (given the primary role that 
Al-Hakim appeared to be continuing to play).  Without 
directly answering, Abdel Ghaffar stated that he was 
concerned that Shia governments in Iraq and Iran could be a 
dangerous development for Bahrain. 
 
7. (S) Comment:  This unexpectedly strong demarche (which 
most certainly was not an Abdel Ghaffar message but reflected 
concerns of his superiors) on worries about the potential 
Shia threat in the region underscores the cross-cutting 
reactions in Bahrain, a Shia-majority country run by a Sunni 
royal family, as it faces the new reality in Iraq.  On the 
one hand, the leadership welcomes and supports the positive 
impact a democratic, post-Saddam Iraq will bring to the 
region and Bahrain.  There are already signs that the 
successful election in Iraq is helping push Shias who 
boycotted the last election into giving serious consideration 
to voting in the 2006 elections, a positive development for 
the government.  And a stable, growing Iraq can only be good 
for a small country like Bahrain that will depend on the 
regional market for its long-term economic prospects.  On the 
other hand, to varying degrees Sunnis in Bahrain, including 
in the royal family, remain extremely wary of Iran and wonder 
what impact the success of Shias in Iraq will have in Bahrain 
at a time when it is loosening controls and moving towards 
full democracy. 
 
8. (U) Baghdad minimize considered. 
MONROE