Bahrain returns envoy to Tehran

Bahrain said Sunday it has reinstated its ambassador in Iran, more than a year after recalling the envoy over Tehran's strong condemnation of Manama's brutal crackdown on Shiite-led protests. "The ambassador of the kingdom to the Islamic Republic of Iran has returned to his work in Tehran," announced Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa on his Twitter page. Manama recalled its ambassador from Iran on March 15 last year in protest at the time at Tehran's "blatant interference" in the Gulf kingdom's internal affairs. Tehran retaliated by recalling its envoy from Manama. Iranian officials had severely criticised the violent crackdown in Sunni-ruled Bahrain, and the dispatch of Saudi-led Gulf troops there to help confront Shiite-led pro-democracy protests. Rights group Amnesty International says 60 people have been killed since the protests first erupted in Bahrain in February last year.