Why the Revolution in Bahrain Concerns America, too

The arrival of Saudi troops in Bahrain caused a conflict with consequences that the security forces of the al Khalifas, the royal family of the small gulf state, was prepared to handle.

Iran, like America, condemned the actions of Riyadh and threatened consequences. The two powers have conflicting interests that are intertwined in a complex web of relations among Saudi Arabia, Iran and America that involve security in the Persian Gulf and the struggle for hegemony in the Middle East.

Washington has a back-up naval base in Bahrain for the Fifth Fleet, which is responsible for naval forces in the Gulf. The ships are on orders to patrol the Persian Gulf in defense of Saudi Arabia and their petroleum interests (America imports 13 percent of its crude from Riyadh). In geopolitical terms, the Persian Gulf is of vital importance. Twenty percent of the world’s oil comes from this area, adding up to roughly 17 million barrels a day shipped out to Europe and the U.S.

Iranian action in the Gulf could stop the supply (an initiative which was attempted and failed in 1988) with the consequences of raising the price of oil and impacting international markets — a scenario that the U.S. and Europe hope to avoid.

At a political level, intervention in Riyadh that came about without approval from Washington threatens the already precarious equilibrium that governs the Gulf. The Fifth Fleet is a deterrent to any Tehran offensive and is currently maintaining the security of Riyadh. The Saudi intervention to save the monarchy of Bahrain threatened the status quo and cost those who supported Hamad al Kalifa, King of Bahrain, the little bit of legitimacy they had in the eyes of his subjects, giving Iran the possibility of presenting itself as an (unlikely) defender of democracy.

Bahrain is also the epicenter of a conflict between Sunni and Shiites. This is evidenced by a recent poll done by Zogby, an American polling company. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah were identified as the most popular leaders among the Shiites. Former Egyptian President Mubarak, a Sunni who was deposed during the revolts, came in third.