Relationship dossier
Bahrain
United Kingdom
Relationship assessment
A substantial security partnership, accompanied by recurring human-rights concerns
Bahrain toward United Kingdom
+45Bahrain supports British naval operations by hosting the UK’s naval support facility at Mina Salman and cooperates with the United Kingdom on defence and security.
United Kingdom toward Bahrain
+40The United Kingdom has maintained defence cooperation with Bahrain, including through the bilateral defence relationship and its naval support facility in Bahrain. British concerns about human rights and arms exports are a source of friction.
Overall relationship
+40The relationship is anchored by sustained defence and security cooperation, including Bahrain’s hosting of a British naval facility. Trade and broader engagement add to the partnership, while British human-rights concerns and arms-export issues complicate it.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Bahrain and the United Kingdom maintain a substantial security partnership, including Bahrain’s hosting of a British naval facility and bilateral defence cooperation. The relationship also includes trade and diplomatic engagement. British criticism of human-rights practices in Bahrain and related concerns over arms exports create recurring friction alongside the security ties.
Areas of tension
- British concerns about human-rights practices in Bahrain
- UK arms-export policy relating to Bahrain
Key developments
The United Kingdom and Bahrain concluded a defence cooperation agreement.
The United Kingdom opened its naval support facility at Mina Salman in Bahrain.
Major uncertainties
- The scale and implementation of bilateral defence commitments are unclear.
- The extent to which human-rights concerns affect security and arms-export policy is uncertain.