Ever since it gained independence from Britain in 1971, Bahrain has diligently sought to build a modern state. But the fallout from Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979 made this effort much more difficult, fueling theocratic movements like the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain and Hezbollah in the Arabian Peninsula.
The transnational expansion of Iran’s propaganda into the Shiite populations of the neighboring Arab states has helped split the region along sectarian lines, mobilized militant movements and complicated reform in several nations. Nowhere has this been more evident than in Bahrain. Official Iranian claims to the islands have only grown more flagrant since the Iranian revolution.
A small kingdom of major strategic importance, Bahrain serves as a base for the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet and is a firm advocate for the Saudi-backed Gulf Union. It has a historically complex demographic makeup of Shiites, Sunnis and minority Christian and Jewish communities.
Over the years, Bahrain has faced an analogous cycle of events: The state pursues political and economic reforms. These efforts are then hijacked by unpopular radical Shiite Islamists supported by Iran. Eventually, the state overcomes these challenges and restores stability — sometimes at the cost of initially pursued reform efforts.