A Study of the Process of Bahrain’s Separation from Iran

Given its strategic and geographical status in the Persian Gulf waters, Bahrain has been of particular importance since long ago. In 1820, England brought together the Bedouin Arabs of the south of the Persian Gulf who made a living through piracy and signed a treaty with them called the Perpetual Truce of Peace and Friendship. Britain’s excuse for doing so was to protect the security of the Persian Gulf; however, the truth was that it sought to consolidate its dominance over this region. In later periods, a number of other treaties were signed with Arabs under the pretext of fighting against slavery. At the same time, the British signed a treaty with the Shaikh of Bahrain, to which the Iranian government objected and, as a result, some conflicts were escalated between Iran and the rulers of the Persian Gulf region and the colonial British government. The British gradually separated the archipelago of Bahrain from Iran from 1820 and, eventually, in 1970, in the course of a referendum held by England, Bahraini people voted for the recognition or their identifyin a fully independent and sovereign state and, thus, the United Nations officially recognized Bahrain as an independent country. In this paper, the writers have tried to respond to the following questions: “When did Bahrain come into the Iranian sphere of influence” and “When did the British increase their influence in Bahrain?” Finally, they deal with the separation of Bahrain from Iran during the reign of Pahlavi King II. In line with the questions of the study, the authors propose the following hypotheses:” Bahrain belonged to Iran since ancient times, and a number of Iranian rulers, from Achaemenids and Arsacids to Buyids, Safavids, and Afsharids, ruled this land. The British government entered the Persian Gulf under the pretext of fighting the pirates and, since Bahrain was of great strategic importance, began to increase its influence in this region. This study was conducted following an analytic-descriptive method while benefitting from library sources, including a number of books, articles, and reports.