Bahrain Sets the Pace for Enhanced Gulf Security Cooperation With the United States

The Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement, signed September 13 by Bahraini Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa and Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department, formalizes and tightens security cooperation between Bahrain and the United States. While C-SIPA carefully does not include any NATO Article 5-type mutual defense guarantees, it approaches the water’s edge of such commitments, reinforced by senior administration officials making clear on background that the pact is a legally binding agreement that will be notified to Congress. Such notification is a formal step that nonetheless does not require ratification to enter into force, since the agreement “does not cross the threshold of a treaty.”

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