Iran has strongly condemned the execution in Bahrain of two Shiite men convicted of terrorism, saying the Gulf state's crackdown on dissent was bound to fail.
The two were executed by firing squad on Saturday, said officials in the kingdom which has been gripped by bouts of unrest since 2011 when it crushed Shiite-led protests demanding political reform.
The foreign ministry in Iran issued a statement late on Saturday in which spokesman Abbas Mousavi "strongly condemned Bahrain's execution of political dissidents".
Mousavi pointed to "reports of forced confessions under torture and unfair trials for those executed and the international calls for Bahrain to stop the executions".
Bahrain was wrong to suppress protesters "instead of... trying to solve the self-made crisis through making peace with the people," he said in the statement released on the ministry's Telegram channel.
Mousavi accused Bahrain of "undertaking the policy of removing dissidents" by itself this time instead of relying on "terrorist groups" as it had in the past.
The two men executed on Saturday were arrested separately in February 2017 and sentenced to death in January last year after a mass trial with 58 other defendants that was marred by allegations of torture.
They were identified by rights groups as Ali al-Arab, 25, and Ahmad al-Malali, 24.
Bahrain has jailed hundreds of protesters since 2011, with Manama claiming Shiite Iran backed demonstrators in order to topple its government -- an accusation Tehran denies.
The Gulf kingdom is mostly Shiite Muslim, according to unofficial estimates contested by the government.
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