HMS Penzance leads HMS Shoreham out of Mina Salman Port in Bahrain whilst deployed on Op KIPION on Feb. 1, 2021. (UK MOD)
BEIRUT — The United Kingdom has officially become the third member of a security framework with the United States and Bahrain, in what a top Bahraini official said was a step towards a broader “multilateral framework” of nations “with an equal interest in delivering stability and prosperity” to the Middle East.
“It is in this context that we will see the United Kingdom being formally invited by the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United States of America to become C-SIPA’s third member this weekend,” Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani told the audience at the Manama Dialogue on Friday, referring to the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement.
The UK parliamentary under-secretary of state for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hamish Falconer, said on Saturday, “Only together can we find ways to bring peace and stability to the region.
“That is why, earlier today [Saturday], alongside Bahrain and the US, I was pleased to celebrate the UK’s decision to join the showing our resolve to work even more closely with partners in the region to contribute to stability and prosperity,” he said.
Falconer said he hoped that the agreement “will encourage others in the region and beyond” to keep working together toward such goals.
C-SIPA was first signed on September 2023 in Washington as a cooperation framework between US and Bahrain. The agreement was relatively short on specifics, but mandated regular meetings and consultations on defense; deeper military, economic and tech ties; and an emphasis on deterring outside aggression, according to a State Department fact sheet. The agreement “supports the goals of, but is distinct from” other security cooperation agreements like the Abraham Accords, the governments said.
The UK’s new participation is “a major step forward in fostering broader regional security integration, bolstering mutual deterrence against external threats, and expanding cooperation in the fields of commerce, science, and technology with like-minded states in support of peace and prosperity in the Middle East,” the State Department said.
Bahrain-based strategic expert and political researcher Abdullah Al Junaid told Breaking Defense that the agreement appears to build on significant UK security investments in Bahrain already. Britain has had a permanent naval presence there since 2016, and Bahrain serves as the headquarters of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s Combined Maritime Forces, of which the UK is one of 46 members, he noted.
“The agreement will definitely represent a new security framework, and it could aid in fostering a wider or even serves as regional model,” Al Junaid said.
Elsewhere at the event, a top Canadian official announced that Ottawa also signed a defense cooperation agreement during the Manama Dialogue, but it was unclear how that agreement relates to C-SIPA.
The new arrangements came just days before the Middle East was rocked by the fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The leader’s departure sparked hope for many Syrians but also concern among officials in the region and in Washington about the potential for spiraling violence in the region and a resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS.
