A top Iranian commander threatened the ruling family of Bahrain with an armed uprising while visiting Syria this week despite a United Nations travel ban.

“The Al Khalifa [rulers of Bahrain] surely know their aggression against Sheikh Isa Qassim is a red line that crossing it would set Bahrain and the whole region on fire, and it would leave no choice for people but to resort to armed resistance,” said Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to Iranian media quoted by Reuters. “Al Khalifa will definitely pay the price for that and their bloodthirsty regime will be toppled,” he added.

The threat to the Gulf kingdom came following Bahrain’s decision to strip Sheikh Qassim, the country’s top Shiite cleric, of his citizenship over charges that he was fomenting sectarian divisions.

“This shows that we have a new strategy of supporting an intifada in Bahrain,” Hamidreza Taraghi, an analyst with ties to Iran’s leaders, told The New York Times.

Bahrain, home to the United States Fifth Fleet, has a majority Shiite population and a Sunni-led government that is heavily dependent on Saudi Arabia. Bahrain announced in January the breakup of an Iran-backed terror cell, which was allegedly supported by the IRGC and the terrorist group Hezbollah. Days earlier, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and other Saudi allies cut or downgraded their ties with Tehran following the torching of the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Rioters torched the embassy following Riyadh’s execution of a Shiite cleric.

Soleimani reportedly issued his threat against Bahrain as he arrived in Aleppo, Syria to learn of the latest developments in the battle between Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups in the city. He has repeatedly flouted a UN travel ban imposed on him in 2007, including by traveling to Syria and Iraq to direct military operations there, as well as to Russia.

[Photo: Fars News ]