Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a news conference on Tuesday that Tehran will soon present "a plan" for Bahrain to solve the problem in the Persian Gulf kingdom.
"I hope that in the near future conditions are prepared and we can present our proposal so they can resolve the issue," he said, without elaborating on his plan for Bahrain after a crackdown on Shia who led a month of pro-democracy protests there.
"The ruler of Bahrain should sit down and negotiate with his people. It is not acceptable for him to have unlimited responsibilities. This is not accepted anywhere...The people should have the right to vote, a vote that is both free and just," he added.
"The people's rights in the election should be equal... you should not allow arrogant powers to meddle [in your affairs]. You should not let them come to plunder your interests and wealth or decades to come."
"The Americans are not good friends. The only thing that is important for them is their own illegal interests," Ahmadinejad said in his first public comments on Bahrain since it lifted the state of emergency.
Tehran had already welcomed the move as "a positive step forward and in line with fulfilling the demands of Bahrain's people."
On June 1, Bahrain lifted the state of emergency it imposed in mid-March during a crackdown on pro-democracy Shia-led street demonstrations, which erupted a month earlier.
But Bahrain's royal family, drawn from its Sunni minority, has not called for a withdrawal of Arab troops from neighboring Gulf states who were brought in to help deal with the unrest.
Predominantly Shia Iran, which has vocally supported most of the uprisings across the Arab world, harshly condemned the crackdown in Bahrain, which in turn accused Tehran of meddling and fanning confessional unrest.
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