Bahrain foils ‘foreign plot’

BAHRAIN has foiled a “foreign plot” to target Gulf countries, King Hamad said in a possible reference to Iran, after security forces crushed Shi’ite-led unrest, the state news agency reported.

He said there was a “foreign plot being prepared over a period of 30, maybe 20 years... so that if it works in one of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, it could spread,” the king was quoted as saying.

“I announce that this plot has been foiled,” he told officers of a Saudi-led GCC force that entered Bahrain last week ahead of a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in the Shi’ite-majority country that is ruled by a Sunni dynasty.