A senior advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader accused Britain of directing this year’s Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain, saying the event was used as a platform for attacks on Tehran by governments that themselves back armed groups in Sudan and Yemen.
Ali-Akbar Velayati, international affairs adviser to Ali Khamenei, said Britain played a leading role in shaping the tone of the discussions.
“England was behind the scenes of the Manama events,” he told Tasnim news agency, saying London is “in the final breaths of power.”
The Manama Dialogue -- an annual regional security forum launched in 2004 and organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies -- drew senior officials from across the Middle East, Europe, and the West.
He accused the UK of fueling conflicts elsewhere, including the war in Ukraine, to weaken rivals.
“It was England that pushed Ukraine into this deep pit and provoked NATO to intervene,” he said, arguing that Britain’s influence has declined sharply as the United States under Donald Trump sidelined its former ally.
Western officials target Iran
Velayati did not name the officials he accused of making anti-Iran remarks, but at the Manama Dialogue conference, senior Western ministers singled out Tehran’s behavior as a regional threat.
“We know that Iran has been obviously a long-term threat to the stability and security across this region, but also more widely,” UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said at the forum. “In the UK, we have had Iran-backed threats on our streets too.”
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Berlin, Paris, and London had “to trigger, unfortunately, the snap-back mechanism,” adding that “the behavior of Iran here in the region, and of course also the missile program” would remain central to future talks.
Tehran rejects accusations
Velayati dismissed such remarks as baseless, saying some of the same states criticizing Iran have a record of “supporting killers and terrorists” in Sudan and Yemen. “Those who, with British weapons, assist in the massacres in Sudan cannot speak about Iran’s peaceful role in the region,” he said.
He described Iran as a historic force for stability and solidarity among its neighbors, adding that “small states of the region have always been supported by Iran” and that Tehran has never sought domination over others.
