Bahrain urges EU to blacklist Lebanon's Hezbollah

ABU DHABI

Bahraini Foreign Minister Khaled Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa on Saturday called on the European Union to add Lebanese group Hezbollah to a list of terrorist organizations.

“Iran is exercising state terrorism,” he said in an interview with the Dubai-based Sky News Arabia at the conclusion of a ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Abu Dhabi.

“Many OIC states, including Bahrain, have suffered from terrorism backed by Iran, which supports terrorist organization such as Hezbollah,” he said.

Iran denies accusations of supporting terrorist organizations.

The top Bahraini diplomat went on to call on the EU and other world countries “to classify Hezbollah as a terrorist group, following the British suit”.

On Thursday, Britain’s parliament voted to officially label Hezbollah as a “terrorist group”.

As of next Monday, membership in -- or support for -- the group will be considered a criminal offense in the U.K., carrying sentences of up to ten years in prison.

Both Hezbollah and Iran have denounced the British decision to classify the Lebanese group as a terrorist organization.