MANAMA - Bahrain's foreign minister floated the idea of expanding military bases within a bloc of Gulf Arab allies that helped Manama quash protests. Sheikh Khalid Al Khalifa said in an interview with PBS Newshour on Wednesday evening that concerns over Iranian interference may push the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to reshape its Gulf military presence. The opposition had hoped that the GCC would pull out of Bahrain when emergency law, imposed in March, ends on June 1. “Any threat that any country would face would definitely, no doubt, affect its neighbours. Saudi Arabia is only 28km away from here. We are looking at the GCC force to be expanded, to have multi-bases everywhere in the GCC,” he told the US television programme. “So whether they leave or stay or be restructured, that's what is to be discussed in the future,” he said. Bahrain imposed emergency law and called in troops from neighbouring countries in March to quash protests. Iran, just across Gulf waters, has issued several statements condemning the GCC troops' presence in the country. Sheikh Khalid told Newshour that Bahrain was getting a “daily barrage” of statements from Iran that worried the island country. “I can tell you that they have people sympathising with them here,” he said, adding that not all Shias were siding with Iran. “There's definitely an Iranian interest group in Bahrain.” Sheikh Khalid said that a security presence would still be high after emergency law is lifted despite the removal of tanks and military from the streets. “There's no doubt that the police will be on their toes 24/7, because the time just after June 1 ... it's a very delicate period we want to ensure nothing goes wrong and we don't slide back to chaos.” A military court on Thursday sentenced nine people to 20 years in prison after they were convicted of kidnapping a policeman. One of the men sentenced was a prominent religious cleric and political activist. Government supporters have held two protests in the past week demanding security assurances after a man at a small protest at a checkpoint on Tuesday drove his car into a group of policemen, wounding nine of them.
