Bahrain demands UN Security Council emergency meeting after Iranian attacks
Bahrain condemned Iranian drone and ballistic missile attacks on its territory and called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting, calling it systematic aggression.
Bahrain has strongly condemned new Iranian attacks on its territory using drones and ballistic missiles and demanded an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. A statement from Bahrain's Foreign Ministry, released on Sunday, June 28, said: "This dangerous escalation shows that Tehran's actions are not a temporary act but deliberate steps and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression against the sovereignty of the kingdom and the security of its citizens and residents."
The document emphasized that Bahrain views Iran's actions as a threat to the security of all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states: "Every attack on one member state is an attack on all, and what threatens one threatens all."
The previous day, June 27, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) conducted drone and missile attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait following US retaliatory strikes on Iran. Tehran threatened a "complete cessation" of peace talks if Washington did not halt airstrikes.
The mutual strikes between Iran and the US, affecting the entire region, began in connection with attempts to open the Strait of Hormuz for shipping without direct Iranian control, AP reports. A new wave of tension emerged after the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN specialized agency, announced on June 27 that it would expand the shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz near Oman to ensure vessel movement both to and from that country.
Iran insists that after the end of the US and Israel's war against the Islamic Republic, Tehran has the right to unilaterally control shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which plays a key role in global oil supplies. Previously, the Strait of Hormuz, despite being located in Iran and Oman's territorial waters, was considered an international passage.
In recent days, Iran has twice attacked ships in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman's coast.
According to Kuwait's armed forces, the country's air defense forces shot down several Iranian drones launched toward the emirate on the morning of June 28, shortly after US retaliatory strikes on Iran. Kuwait also reported intercepting two Iranian ballistic missiles. No damage or casualties resulted from the incident. A major US military base is located in the emirate.
Bahrain reported that an eight-story residential building near the international airport was damaged due to Iranian attacks, but there were no casualties. "The US Navy's 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain, and its base has been repeatedly attacked during the war. The damaged building on Sunday was not near the fleet's headquarters, which is located in a suburb of the capital Manama," AP notes.
