Bahrain has foiled a "foreign plot" to target Gulf countries, King Hamad said in a possible reference to Iran, after security forces crushed the unrest, the state news agency reported Monday.

Bahrain has foiled a "foreign plot" to target Gulf countries, King Hamad said in a possible reference to Iran, after security forces crushed the unrest, the state news agency reported Monday.

He said there was a "foreign plot being prepared over a period of 30, maybe
20 years... so that if it works in one of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, it could spread," the king was quoted as saying.

"I announce that this plot has been foiled," he told officers of a Saudi-led GCC force that entered Bahrain last week ahead of a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in the Shiite-majority country that is ruled by a Sunni dynasty.

The so-called Peninsula Shield force was invited into Bahrain to help protect key facilities and not to boost "internal security," the king claimed, refuting accusations Saudi troops had fired on Shiite villagers.

EASING CONDITIONS

Bahrain's main opposition groups have eased conditions for talks with the government a day after the country's king pledged to bring reforms to end almost two-month long anti-regime protests.

The opposition group, led by the largest Shia opposition party Wefaq, late on Saturday called for release of prisoners.

It also asked for an end to security crackdown and withdrawal of Gulf Co-operation Council [GCC] troops, who intervened last week at the behest of the government.

Meanwhile, opposition legislators have held a brief protest on Sunday in front of the UN office in the capital Manama and asked for UN and American intervention.

"Prepare a healthy atmosphere for the start of political dialogue between the opposition and the government on a basis that can put our country on the track to real democracy and away from the abyss," the statement said.

LOCAL

Shops have reopened in Bahrain on Sunday and roads were busy again after weeks of protests.

There were fewer checkpoints in the streets, though helicopters buzzed over Shia areas.

However, masked soldiers still guard the entrances to the Pearl Roundabout.

Bahrain urged employees working in the public sector and both public and private schools and universities to return to work after days of closures and shortened hours.

Over 2,000 mourners in the Shia village of Sitra, pumping their fists and shouting "Down with the regime" joined the third funeral procession in as many days on Sunday.

KUWAIT

Meanwhile, Kuwaiti Islamist MPs are due to question their country's prime minister in parliament for not sending troops to Bahrain and strongly blasted Iran for meddling in its affairs.

Also on Sunday, a Kuwaiti medical delegation heading to Bahrain via Saudi Arabia has been stopped and asked to return back to Kuwait.

IRAN

Tension has heightened between Bahrain and its Shiite neighbor Iran over Tehran's strong criticism of the security forces' bloody crackdown on Shiites in the Arab state.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi

Bahrain's Al-Watan daily meanwhile reported an Iranian diplomat had been given 72 hours to leave the country over "violations" including smuggling arms into the kingdom.

In tit-for-tat move Iran has ordered a Bahraini diplomat to leave the country, Iran's Press TV quoted the country's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying."

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, in a phone call with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, on Sunday insisted on "the necessity for foreign forces to leave Bahrain."

Iran has demanded the withdrawal of GCC troops from Bahrain and accused the kingdom of using violence against Shia protesters. It also recalled its ambassador from Bahrain on Wednesday.

Iran, which supports Shia groups in Iraq and Lebanon, complained to the United Nations and asked neighbors to join it in urging Saudi Arabia to withdraw its forces from Bahrain.

Around 10 people, mostly Shiite protesters, have been killed in the unrest, which culminated in a police and military assault on an anti-regime sit-in at Manama's Pearl Square last week.