IRAN denied Bahrain’s claims that it was behind the bombing of an oil pipeline in the Gulf island emirate, branding them “childish” yesterday.

“The only things the Bahraini authorities have learned is to accuse Iran following any incident in the country,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi.

“They should be aware that the time of such baseless and fake claims and projections and childish finger-pointing is long over.”

On Saturday, Bahraini Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa said that the previous night’s blast was “the latest example of a terrorist act performed by terrorists in direct contact with and under instruction from Iran.”

This "is a dangerous Iranian escalation aimed at terrorising citizens and damaging the world’s oil industry,” he tweeted.

The explosion cut a Bahrain Petroleum Company pipeline near the village of Buri, 10 miles from the capital Manama.

The official Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday that, in response to the pipeline explosion, the kingdom would stop pumping crude oil to Bahrain to be refined, potentially affecting the island’s fuel market. 

Bahrain and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for a series of terrorist attacks organised inside Bahrain in 2015.

Last week, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US President Donald Trump claimed that an indigenously made Yemeni ballistic missile that targeted Riyadh airport had been supplied by Iran.

On Friday, Qatar-based US air force Lieutenant General Jeffrey Harrigian claimed that there were “Iranian markings on those missiles,” adding: “To me, that connects the dots to Iran.”

Bahrain is home to the US navy’s Fifth Fleet, while Qatar — currently blockaded by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and others — hosts a huge US air force base.