Israel, Bahrain discuss Iran, vaccine plant
TEL AVIV: Bahraini Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa spoke with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday about the return to nuclear talks with Iran, Bahrain’s state-run news agency reported.
Al Khalifa, also the country’s prime minister, stressed to Netanyahu “the importance of the participation of regional countries in any negotiations on the Iranian nuclear file” to support “security and stability in the region,” according to the official Bahrain News Agency.
The leaders also discussed the possible involvement of Bahrain in establishing a vaccine plant in Israel, the two countries said.
Netanyahu and Al Khalifa released statements about their telephone call on Thursday but only the Bahraini announcement mentioned Iran.
Netanyahu’s office said he spoke with Khalifa about visiting Bahrain once coronavirus restrictions would allow it.
“The Bahraini regent also stated that he was interested in examining the possibility of Bahrain joining an investment in a vaccine manufacturing plant that is planned to be established in Israel together with other countries,” the statement said.
Netanyahu said on Wednesday he was in talks with the heads of Pfizer and Moderna to open facilities in Israel.
Neither company responded to Reuters requests for comment. Israel has been importing Pfizer-biontech and Moderna Inc COVID-19 vaccines.
Israel expects trade with Bahrain to be around $220 million in 2021, not including possible defence and tourism deals.
Separately, Iran dismissed as “immature” a statement by a UN investigator that inconsistencies in its explanation of the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane last year raised questions over whether the act was intentional, Iranian media said on Thursday.
All 176 people aboard the Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, most of them Canadian, were killed when the plane crashed shortly ater takeoff en route from Tehran to Kiev on Jan.8, 2020.
Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said on Tuesday she had found no concrete evidence the plane was targeted intentionally but that Iran had not proven it was accidental.
Ater denying blame for three days, Iran’s Guards said they had shot it down by mistake while under high alert for a possible atack. Hours earlier it had atacked US targets in Iraq in retaliation for Washington’s killing of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, with a drone strike five days before.