The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it is surprised at the Bahraini foreign minister’s reported call for the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, warning that such comments are a clear instance of "state

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it is surprised at the Bahraini foreign minister's reported call for the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, warning that such comments are a clear instance of "state terrorism".

"If such comments are proven to be true (and uttered by the Bahraini foreign minister), they will be surprising; the words and clauses used by him would then mean an alignment in discourse with the Zionist regime, and raising them by an official of a Muslim country about a fully well-known Lebanese official and figure who is supported by the regional nations is a type of state terrorism," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said in her weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday.

She expressed the hope that the al-Khalifa's remarks have been released improperly and mistakenly, and that the Bahraini officials would show rapid reaction against the report as soon as possible, according to Fars news agency.

Afkham's remarks came in response to a reporter when asked about Bahraini Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa's comments who had reportedly claimed last Tuesday that Sayyed Nasrallah is a "criminal" with no right to criticize the kingdom over its treatment of its opposition.

"Any contact with terrorist Hezbollah is a contact with the enemy," al-Khalifa wrote on his Twitter.

Human Rights Watch has accused the Bahraini government of violence and torture.