Bahraini authorities say they have broken up an Iran-backed cell that was planning to carry out multiple terror attacks on its territory, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

“A secret terrorist plot aided by the so-called Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Hezbollah terrorist organization was foiled,” Bahrain’s BNA state news agency reported. “It targeted the security of the kingdom of Bahrain by (plotting to) carry out a series of dangerous bombings.” The main suspect in the plot, Ali Ahmed Fakhrawi, allegedly received funding from Iran’s proxy group Hezbollah.

The news comes just days after Bahrain ended diplomatic relations with Iran over the torching of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran. Bahrain, along with fellow Saudi allies Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, either downgraded or cut ties with Iran in the wake of the escalating tension between Riyadh and Tehran.

In July, Bahrain said that it dismantled an Iran-backed terror cell and recalled its ambassador from Tehran. A few days later, after a bomb attack killed two Bahraini policemen and wounded six others, authorities indicated that the explosives used may have originated in Iran

In October, Bahrain expelled an Iranian diplomat whom it accused of “subversion” and arms smuggling. At the time, Bahrain denounced Iran for “supporting subversion, terrorism and incitement to violence through misleading media campaigns as well as assisting terrorist groups in the smuggling of weapons and explosives and training their members and harboring fugitives from justice.”

Tehran has previously referred to Bahrain, which has a Shiite majority, as “Iran’s 14th province.”

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