Iran and Bahrain have agreed to start talks about the release of Iranian funds frozen in Bahrain and resuming diplomatic ties, Iran's state media reported on Monday.
Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet, has long blamed Tehran for stirring up its own majority Shi'ite Muslim population against the country's Sunni monarchy © Mena Today
Iran and Bahrain have agreed to start talks about the release of Iranian funds frozen in Bahrain and resuming diplomatic ties, Iran's state media reported on Monday.
On Sunday, Bahrain's state news agency said the two countries have agreed to start discussing re-establishing political relations.
"The two parts have agreed to hold technical negotiations to free Iranian funds frozen in Bahrain," Iran's state media said, without elaborating on the timing of the talks or the amounts involved.
The talks will be aimed at releasing funds of Iran's central bank and other banks held in Bahrain, according to the state media.
The agreement was reached at a meeting in Tehran, in which Bahrain's minister of foreign affairs Abdullatif Al-Zayani and Iran's acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani took part.
Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet, has long blamed Tehran for stirring up its own majority Shi'ite Muslim population against the country's Sunni monarchy. It cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 2016 a day after Saudi Arabia did so because of attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
Last month, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa said in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that there was no reason to postpone the resumption of diplomatic relations between the kingdom and Iran.
Reporting by Elwely Elwelly, Ahmed Tolba and Muhammad Al Gebaly
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday negotiating a deal with Iran could "take a few days," quashing hopes for an imminent end to the conflict a day after U.S. forces conducted what Washington called defensive strikes in southern Iran.
Iran's top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar's prime minister on a potential deal with the U.S. to end the three-month-old war, an official briefed on the visit said on Monday, after Washington and Tehran played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday that conclusions have been reached on many topics discussed in a potential 14-point memorandum of understanding, but this does not mean a deal to end the Middle East war is imminent.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.