U.S. government documents report briefings by Bahraini leaders who
linked the Shi'ite opposition to the regime in Teheran. The documents said
Iran was using its proxies to help train Shi'ite fighters in urban warfare.
As early as 2008, the documents said, Bahrain's King Hamad Bin Issa Al
Khalifa asserted that the Shi'ite opposition was being directed by Iran. In
a meeting with U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, then commander in Iraq, the
king said Iran was sending members of Bahrain's opposition for training with
Hizbullah in Lebanon.
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In the July 2008 meeting, reported in a State Department cable released
by WikiLeaks, the king also said Iran has recruited Syria in an effort to
destabilize his country. Hamad said Syria was providing the Bahraini
opposition with false passports for entry into Lebanon.
In the briefing, Hamad said he did not have evidence to support his
allegations. But the king said the Iranian destabilization campaign was
designed to force Bahrain to expel the U.S. military presence, particularly
the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.
The State Department was believed to have been skeptical over the king's
claims that the Shi'ite opposition was directed by Iran. Another cable by
the U.S. embassy in Manama asserted that the opposition was fueled by the
discriminatory policies of the Sunni kingdom. Shi'ites comprise about 70
percent of the population of the Gulf Cooperation Council state.