Saudi and UAE Forces will only leave Bahrain when an Iranian threat to GCC countries is judged to be over, Bahrain's Foreign Minister said.

Gulf troops headed to the Kingdom in March under the aegis of a Gulf defense pact.    

'There are no Saudi forces, there are GCC Forces and they will leave when they are done with any external threat,' Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in the UAE earlier this week.

'The external threat is a regional one. The external threat is a complete misunderstanding between the GCC and Iran. This is a threat', he elaborated.     

'I am not pointing fingers here, but what we are seeing from Iran, on Bahrain, on Saudi Arabia, on Kuwait, the occupation of the islands of the Emirates, doesn't make the situation a positive one. It keeps it a constant threat, and ongoing one.'     

Bahrain has put 2 Iranians and a Bahraini on trial on charges of spying for Iran, while Kuwait this month expelled 3 Iranian Diplomats accused of involvement in a spy ring. Tehran then asked 3 Kuwaiti Diplomats to leave.

Iran and the UAE have a dispute stretching back many years over 3 islands occupied by Iran but claimed by the UAE.    
Saudi Arabia has threatened unspecified measures if Iran fails to protect its Diplomats after students demonstrated outside the Saudi Embassy in Tehran last week.

 

Source: Reuters