Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh strongly condemned the latest decision taken by the Bahraini Court against the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks in the Gulf country. Responding to questions asked by reporters, Khatibzadeh said, “Bringing up such cases and leveling baseless accusations and allegations to the Central Bank of Iran, Saderat, and Melli banks, and their managers are solely based on political motivations and lack any legal value.”
The Iranian diplomat also stated that there is no official and reliable source that could provide detailed information regarding the cases against Iranian banks and individuals. Thus, such a situation only caused speculations based on media coverages, Khatibzadeh added.
Accusing Bahraini authorities of debarring the Iranian side from their primary rights in the judicial process, Khatibzadeh said, “Apparently, the Bahraini court is only following the orders and decisions of Gulf country’s political and security organs in all these cases.”
Khatibzadeh also highlighted that his country reserves the right to use all possible national and international tools to counter such moves by Bahrain and would not abstain from advocating the interests and rights of its citizens.
Bahrain’s official news agency reported last week that the Higher Criminal Court had found the Central Bank of Iran, as well as other Iranian banks and their officials, guilty of money laundering and sentenced them to 19 million Bahraini Dinars, and confiscated money subjected to the crime, which is equal to approximately $1.3 billion. The news agency introduced the incident as “the largest money laundering case in the history of the Kingdom.”
