The king of Bahrain has flown to Tehran for the first visit by the country's head of state to Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Bahrain's official BNA news agency said Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa would meet President Mohammad Khatami to "develop and enhance cordial relations bonding the two Islamic nations". Relations between the two countries were poor for the two decades after the Shah of Iran was deposed, with Bahrain accusing Iran of stirring up unrest among the archipelago's Shia majority.

They began to improve again in 1997 when the reformist President Khatami came to power, and ambassadors were exchanged in 1999.

King Hamad, who came to the throne in 1999, has himself pushed for economic and political reforms to end decades of tension between Muslim sects in Bahrain.

Members of the Shia majority have been pressing the country's ruling Sunni elite for better representation for several years.
Finance Minister Abdullah Saif, who is accompanying the king, said the two-day visit would help negotiations to restore commercial sea links, which have been closed for six years.

PHOTO CAPTION

President Khatami (right) has improved ties with Gulf states