The move follows a US announcement on May 15 that it is withdrawing all non-emergency personnel from its Baghdad embassy and Erbil consulate owing to an unspecified threat from Iran and Iran-backed proxies in Iraq and Syria.
The UK issued its own warnings on May 16. Germany and the Netherlands meanwhile have not ordered the withdrawal of their staff, but announced they are suspending military training schemes until further notice.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Saturday urging all citizens to "leave immediately" and against traveling to Iran and Iraq at the present time, “given the unstable situation in the region and the recent escalations and threats against security and stability”.
It stressed the need to take “utmost precautions and care”.
Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled island kingdom off the coast of Saudi Arabia, has long accused Iran of meddling in its internal affairs and stoking opposition among its Shiite population.
The kingdom’s foreign minister was also locked in a recent spat with Muqtada al-Sadr, one of Iraq’s most prominent Shiite clerics and political influencers, after Sadr criticized the government.
The spat with Bahrain began when Sadr issued a series of proposals aimed at insulating Iraq from regional conflicts. Among the suggestions was stopping the “wars in Yemen, Bahrain and Syria instantly” and calling on their rulers to abdicate.
Bahrain took exception to Sadr’s words, leading its foreign minister Khalid Bin Ahmad al-Khalifa to brand Sadr “stupid” and, in Arabic verse, liken him to a “dog”. He also branded Iraq an Iranian puppet.
The recent flurry of warnings comes as tensions in the Persian Gulf escalate. The United States has deployed B-52 bombers and the USS Abraham Lincoln in a show of military might as its year-long phony war with Iran comes to a head.
US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018 and imposed a raft of sanctions targeting Iran’s economy and its oil sector – with the aim of reducing its oil revenues to zero.
Washington then listed Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its extra-territorial Quds Force as foreign terrorist organizations. Tehran responded by listing the US central command (CENTCOM) as a terror group.
The US accuses Iran of trying to acquire nuclear weapons and of sponsoring terrorism across the region. Tehran and European signatories of the nuclear deal say Iran is meeting its obligations under the accord.
Trump has urged Tehran to come to the negotiating table. Analysts warn the Trump administration’s brinkmanship has brought the region to the cusp of war.
.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
