VZCZCXRO6998
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHMK #0674/01 2001015
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 191015Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANAMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7045
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHBVAKS/COMUSNAVCENT  PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAMA 000674 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/18/2017 
TAGS: PREL BA REGION
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S FAREWELL CALL ON FOREIGN MINISTER 
SHAIKH KHALID 
 
REF: A. MANAMA 650 B. MANAMA 662 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe.  Reason: 1.4 (B)(D) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (C) Summary. Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid, during the 
Ambassador's July 17 farewell call, had high praise for the 
bilateral relationship, urging that Bahrain and other GCC 
countries move from being "allies" to becoming true 
"partners."  In that connection, he welcomed the July 31 
meeting of the GCC 2, calling that forum extremely important. 
 He said that new Middle East envoy Tony Blair would visit 
Bahrain July 25.  He gave additional insights into Bahrain's 
dust-up last week with Iran over a statement suggesting 
Bahrain was Iran's 14th province.  He said that Bahrain 
handled it very carefully as it did not want it to affect 
Bahrain's internal situation (in other words, exacerbate the 
sensitive Sunni-Shia sectarian divide).  He related that 
Iranian FM Muttaqi almost canceled his visit to resolve the 
issue when he learned of an anti-Iranian demonstration 
outside the Iranian Embassy.  After the issue was resolved, 
Shaikh Khalid flew to Saudi Arabia to thank King Abdullah for 
Saudi Arabia's expression of support. King Abdullah rebuffed 
a request by Shaikh Khalid to increase production at a 
jointly-held off-shore oil field. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
BILATERAL RELATIONS: NOT JUST ALLIES, BUT PARTNERS 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶2. (C) The Ambassador opened his July 17 farewell call on 
Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid by expressing appreciation for 
Bahrain's close cooperation with the United States on 
regional issues and, more specifically, Shaikh Khalid's 
personal support for U.S. policies in the region, especially 
on the Israel-Palestinian issue.  The Ambassador noted that, 
with the return of the fifth Bahrain detainee the evening 
before (Saudi/Bahraini dual citizen Juma Al-Dossari, who was 
sent to Saudi Arabia), there was just one Bahraini detainee 
left at Guantanamo.  This issue, which had put some local 
pressure on the Foreign Ministry, was thus almost behind us. 
At the same time, the successful visit the week before of an 
NDI delegation, which led to an agreement for NDI to resume 
programming in the fall, had hopefully put behind us an issue 
that had been of considerable concern to the United States. 
With the FTA successfully in place, and Bahrain playing an 
increasingly active role in Navy coalition operations, the 
bilateral relationship was currently in good shape. 
 
¶3. (C) Shaikh Khalid had high praise for the bilateral 
relationship.  He said that it was time for Bahrain, and the 
other countries in the GCC, to move from being "allies" of 
the United States to becoming true "partners."  Bahrain's 
position, he said, is that the U.S. and the GCC should have a 
"shared vision, shared policies."  In that regard, he 
welcomed the news that Secretary Rice will host a meeting of 
the GCC 2 in Egypt on July 31.  Although he will be on 
vacation in France at the time, he will fly to Egypt for the 
meeting and looks forward to fruitful discussions.  The GCC 2 
process is extremely important, he stressed. 
 
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PRESIDENT'S SPEECH WELCOMED 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Shaikh Khalid welcomed the President's July 16 speech 
on the Middle East, and the indication it gave of serious 
engagement by the United States on supporting peace in the 
Middle East.  He focused specifically on the statement that 
the U.S. would convene an international meeting this fall to 
discuss Middle East peace, and wondered when and where the 
meeting would be held and whom would be invited. 
 
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TONY BLAIR COMING TO BAHRAIN 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Shaikh Khalid stated that new Middle East envoy Tony 
Blair will visit Bahrain July 25, arriving from Tel Aviv.  He 
will meet with Crown Prince Shaikh Salman (in the absence of 
the King, who is out of the country) and Deputy Prime 
Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak.  Shaikh Khalid 
expressed appreciation that Blair was coming, and said 
Bahrain looked forward to hearing what he had to say. 
 
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FLARE-UP WITH IRAN: HANDLED CAREFULLY 
 
MANAMA 00000674  002 OF 002 
 
 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Shaikh Khalid gave some additional insights on 
Bahrain's dust-up last week with Iran over a statement by 
Kayhan editor Shariatmadari claiming that Bahrain was the 
14th province of Iran (reftels).  Bahrain handled it "very 
carefully," he stated.  "We did not want this issue to affect 
our internal situation.  It was like putting oil on a fire, 
hour by hour.  So we stopped it quickly.  Thank God this 
episode is behind us." 
 
¶7. (C)  When the story broke in Kayhan, Shaikh Khalid stated, 
they called in the Iranian CDA who dismissed the article as 
simply a media report.  Shaikh Khalid asked that the Iranian 
Government to make a public statement.  The CDA said he would 
relay the message to Tehran.  When the Iranian government 
failed to make statement, the MFA called the CDA back in the 
next day and asked what happened.  He replied that the 
positive statement made the day before by President 
Ahmadinejad during the presentation of credentials by 
Bahrain's new Ambassador was enough.  Unsatisfied, Shaikh 
Khalid prepared a note of protest and told the press he would 
meet with Bahrain's parliament the next day to discuss 
Bahrain's position.  At that point, Iranian Foreign Minister 
Muttaqi, who had planned to transit Bahrain for one hour on 
his way home from Tunis, asked to extend the stopover so that 
he could meet the King and the Foreign Minister.  Bahrain 
decided to accept the visit, postpone delivering the protest 
note, and see what Muttaqi had to say. 
 
¶8. (C) Muttaqi almost didn't come.  On the eve of his planned 
arrival on July 13, a protest demonstration in front of the 
Iranian Embassy led the Iranian CDA to contact Muttaqi and 
tell him not to come.  Upon hearing this, Shaikh Khalid 
called Muttaqi and urged him to proceed with the visit.  With 
news of the planned visit already in the press, Shaikh Khalid 
told him, there would be an even bigger problem for Bahrain 
if he suddenly canceled. Muttaqi said that he was concerned 
that Bahrain would use the visit to stir up anti-Iranian 
sentiments, but after talking to Shaikh Khalid agreed to come. 
 
¶9. (C) As reported ref b, Muttaqi gave Bahrain the assurances 
it wanted during his visit.  He met Shaikh Khalid and, in the 
absence of the King, Crown Prince Shaikh Salman.  The Crown 
Prince told Shaikh Khalid before his meeting with Muttaqi 
that he would ask point blank if Iran recognized Bahrain as a 
sovereign country, and if the answer was not yes he intended 
to walk out of the meeting.  In the end, Muttaqi gave him the 
answer he wanted, although he did make the point that 
anti-Iranian comments by Bahraini columnist Sameera Rajab, a 
member of the King-appointed Shura Council, were essentially 
of the same nature as the comments by Kayhan editor 
Shariatmadari.  Shaikh Khalid acknowledged to the Ambassador 
that Muttaqi did have a point.  Muttaqi also pressed for an 
early convening of the new joint committee on bilateral 
cooperation, but the Bahrainis pushed it back to the autumn. 
 
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RELATIONS WITH SAUDI ARABIA 
--------------------------- 
 
¶10. (C) During this episode, Saudi King Abdullah called King 
Hamad, who is in London, to express his support for Bahrain. 
Once the issue had been resolved, King Hamad dispatched 
Shaikh Khalid to Jeddah to personally thank the Saudi leader 
for his expression of support.  King Abdullah told Shaikh 
Khalid that the Gulf is a red line as far as Iran is 
concerned and that "we are there to help you." 
 
¶11. (C) Shaikh Khalid said that during his meeting with King 
Abdullah he raised an issue that continues to rankle the 
Bahrainis: Saudi Arabia's unwillingness to raise production 
at the jointly-owned Abu Safah offshore oil field.  He said 
that Aramco has told Bahrain oil company Bapco that the field 
has good potential for expansion.  In this meeting, Shaikh 
Khalid said, King Abdullah shrugged of his request.  Shaikh 
Khalid urged U.S. help with the Saudis on this issue. 
 
 
********************************************* ******** 
Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/manama/ 
********************************************* ******** 
MONROE