Gulf monarchy strips dozens of citizenship over ‘Iran sympathy’

Bahrain, ruled by a Sunni dynasty, has long been wary of Iranian support for its Shiite majority Bahrain has revoked the citizenship of 69 people for “expressing sympathy” with Iranian retaliatory strikes on the Gulf state, the Interior Ministry has announced. The monarchy, ruled by a Sunni dynasty, has for years been wary of potential Iranian influence on the Shiite majority. In a statement on Monday, the ministry said the revocation applied to those who “glorified Iran’s sinful, hostile acts” as well as their families by dependency. It described all 69 people as being of “non-Bahraini origin,” adding that the authorities were “continuing to study and review” who deserves citizenship. The move, the ministry added, was carried out under royal directives from King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and based on a national law article allowing citizenship to be withdrawn from anyone deemed to have caused “harm to the interests of the Kingdom or acting in a manner that contradicts the duty of loyalty to it.” Read more Gulf nation warns US it could ditch petrodollar for yuan – WSJ Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, advocacy director at the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), who himself was stripped of citizenship in 2015, called the move “the beginning of a dangerous era of repression, with consequences that will echo for generations.” He noted that no information had been provided on whether those affected were arrested or whether they hold another nationality.

Alwadaei suggested that the revocation was coordinated with neighboring Kuwait, which has revoked citizenship from at least 2,000 people since the start of the war. The development follows Iran’s retaliatory missile strikes on Bahrain – which hosts an American military base – in response to earlier US and Israeli attacks. Bahrain said Iranian missile attacks targeted the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Manama, with Tehran describing it as a legitimate target. The crackdown is a sign of a rift within Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled monarchy which has a majority Shiite Muslim population and saw pro-Iran demonstrations early in the conflict. The Bahraini government has also been wary of a potential Iranian-backed ‘fifth column’ and has long accused Tehran of using Shiite ties to foment internal unrest. In the 2010s, Iran consistently condemned the arrests of Shiite opposition figures in Bahrain, though in 2024 ties showed signs of improvement – a trend which was derailed by the US-Israeli strikes.