Iran Rejects Bahrain's Accusation of Involvement in Pipeline Explosion

The spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry dismissed Bahrain's claim regarding the training of two suspects in the explosion of Saudi Arabia's oil pipeline in the Revolutionary Guards' camps as "false and baseless" and a repetition of "old and expired scenarios." According to the state news agency IRNA, Bahram Qasemi strongly rejected the accusation made by Bahrain's Ministry of Interior on Thursday, January 19, and urged the officials of that country to "abandon the repetitive accusations and old scenarios, and instead of a security-police approach and suppressing the legitimate demands of the people, end the crisis in the country through serious dialogue with their people." The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson also advised Bahraini officials not to "foolishly and naively seek to deflect attention and mislead regarding their internal problems and crises." On Wednesday, January 18, Bahrain's Ministry of Interior announced the arrest of four citizens aged between 23 and 27 on charges of involvement in the bombing of an Aramco pipeline in Saudi Arabia. Manama claims that two of these suspects had received extensive training in the Revolutionary Guards' camps and were armed. The explosion occurred on November 10 in a pipeline that transported Aramco oil to the Bapco refinery near the Shiite village of "Buri," 15 kilometers from the capital of Bahrain, disrupting the oil flow. Bahrain's Ministry of Interior stated that three other suspects are fugitives and are being pursued. Manama has repeatedly accused Tehran of supporting armed actions in the country, but Iran has denied these allegations. The Al Khalifa family has ruled Bahrain for two centuries. Since 2011, following the suppression of Shiite protests against the Sunni government of Bahrain, hundreds have been stripped of citizenship, and protesters and opposition leaders have either been imprisoned or exiled. The government's actions against dissenters have drawn severe criticism from human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Bahrain, a key U.S. ally in the Gulf, is situated between two rival regional powers, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and is home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet.