Bahrain recalls its Iran envoy over 'hostile comments'

Bahrain has decided to recall its ambassador to Tehran in protest at "hostile" comments by Iranian leaders, the official BNA news agency reported on Saturday.

It said the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (SCIA) "strongly denounced the repeated blatant Iranian interference in Bahrain's internal affairs in order to shake up the kingdom's stability and fan tension".

Parliament's foreign affairs committee had a short time before the announcement of the envoy's recall demanded an extraordinary Arab summit to discuss "Iranian interference".

Last Sunday, Bahrain summoned Iran's acting charge d'affaires to protest against the Islamic republic's supreme leader Ali Khamenei voicing support for "oppressed people" across the Middle East, including in Bahrain.

The previous day, Khamenei had said the nuclear deal Tehran agreed with world powers would not alter its support for the governments of Syria and Iraq, nor its backing for "oppressed people" in Yemen and Bahrain, and the Palestinians.

Sunni-ruled Manama accuses Shiite Iran of backing opposition demands in Shiite-majority Bahrain for a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.