Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sought to boost relations with Bahrain on Saturday, assuring this staunch US ally in the Gulf not to fear a military buildup in the region and finalizing an important gas export deal.
"Iran doesn't expect any military escalation in the region," Ahmadinejad told reporters during a half-day stop to Bahrain on his way to a summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
The hardline president played down talks of a possible American strike against Iran because of the Islamic Republic's refusal to stop uranium enrichment, which the US and its allies fear could hide a covert nuclear weapons program.
