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Foreign relations

Bahrain has established bilateral relations with 190 countries worldwide. As of 2012, Bahrain maintains a network of 25 embassies, three consulates and four permanent missions to the Arab League, United Nations and European Union respectively. Bahrain also hosts 36 embassies. The United States designated Bahrain a major non-NATO ally in 2001. Bahrain plays a modest, moderating role in regional politics and adheres to the views of the Arab League on Middle East peace and Palestinian rights by supporting the two state solution. Bahrain is also one of the founding members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Relations with Iran tend to be tense as a result of a failed coup in 1981 which Bahrain blames Iran for and occasional claims of Iranian sovereignty over Bahrain by ultra-conservative elements in the Iranian public. In 2016, following the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain cut diplomatic relations with Iran. Bahrain and Israel established bilateral relations in 2020 under the Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement.

Bahrain is the 81st most peaceful country in the world, according to the 2024 Global Peace Index.