BRUSSELS: Top EU foreign affairs advisers warned directly on Tuesday of Iranian interference in Bahrain's month-long protests and offered to mediate with Sunni rulers.
"It would be a surprise to me if the Iranians had not spotted that there was an opportunity for them and had not taken some advantage of it," said Robert Cooper, special adviser to European Union foreign affairs and security chief Catherine Ashton.
Cooper doubted after an uprising quelled when Bahrain's rulers called in mainly Saudi troops that there were "many people who want an Iranian-style political arrangement in Bahrain.
Another top official, Hugues Mingarelli, the head of Ashton's Middle East bureau, said the EU could "play a facilitator's role in launching dialogue" if the Bahrainis wish. EU foreign ministers were briefed during Brussels talks on Monday on a trip by envoy Cooper to Bahrain after Gulf troops quelled pro-democracy protests in the kingdom. They were warned of a "risk of a downward economic spiral," diplomats told AFP, making the need for political dialogue more "urgent" with EU ministers fearing Bahrain could become the site of a "proxy conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia."
King Hamad said on Monday that Bahrain had foiled a "foreign plot" going back a generation to target Gulf countries, in what was interpreted as a possible reference to Iran, after security forces crushed the protests. The wealthy Arab oil states in the Gulf are united in their fear of any expanding influence from Iran. In a declaration after Monday's talks, the EU foreign ministers urged "all security forces in the country not to use violence against the demonstrators."
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