On this picture offered by Islamic Republic Information Company (IRNA), firefighters work as black smoke rises within the sky after a large explosion rocked a port close to the southern metropolis of Bandar Abbas, Iran on Saturday.
Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA through AP
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Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA through AP
MUSCAT, Oman — An enormous explosion and fireplace rocked a port Saturday in southern Iran purportedly linked to a cargo of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant, killing 5 individuals and injuring greater than 700 others.
Mehrdad Hasanzadeh, a provincial catastrophe administration official, gave the up to date casualty determine in an interview on state tv. The earlier toll was 4 lifeless and greater than 500 others injured.
The blast on the Shahid Rajaei port occurred as Iran and america met Saturday in Oman for the third spherical of negotiations over Tehran’s quickly advancing nuclear program.
Whereas nobody in Iran outright prompt that the explosion got here from an assault, even Iranian Overseas Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led the talks, on Wednesday acknowledged that “our safety providers are on excessive alert given previous situations of tried sabotage and assassination operations designed to impress a reputable response.”
Port acquired chemical for missile gasoline, safety agency says
For hours, authorities in Iran provided no clear rationalization for what prompted the blast on the port, which is simply outdoors of Bandar Abbas, although they did deny that the explosion had something to do with the nation’s oil trade.
Nonetheless, the port took in a cargo of “sodium perchlorate rocket gasoline” in March, the non-public safety agency Ambrey mentioned. The gasoline is a part of a cargo from China by two vessels to Iran first reported in January by the Monetary Occasions. The gasoline was going for use to replenish Iran’s missile shares, which had been depleted by its direct assaults on Israel through the conflict with Hamas within the Gaza Strip.
“The fireplace was reportedly the results of improper dealing with of a cargo of stable gasoline meant to be used in Iranian ballistic missiles,” Ambrey mentioned.
Ship-tracking information analyzed by The Related Press put one of many vessels believed to be carrying the chemical within the neighborhood in March, as Ambrey mentioned. Iran hasn’t acknowledged taking the cargo. The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not instantly reply to a request for touch upon Saturday.
It is unclear why Iran would not have moved the chemical substances from the port, significantly after the Beirut port blast in 2020. That explosion, attributable to the ignition of lots of of tons of extremely explosive ammonium nitrate, killed greater than 200 individuals and injured greater than 6,000 others. Nonetheless, Israel did goal Iranian missile websites the place Tehran makes use of industrial mixers to create stable gasoline.
Social media footage of the explosion on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei noticed reddish-hued smoke rising from the hearth simply earlier than the detonation. That means a chemical compound being concerned within the blast.
“Get again get again! Inform the gasoline (truck) to go!” a person in a single video shouted simply earlier than the blast. “Inform him to go, it’ll blow up! Oh God, that is blowing up! All people evacuate! Get again! Get again!”
On Saturday evening, the state-run IRNA information company mentioned that the Customs Administration of Iran blamed a “stockpile of hazardous items and chemical supplies saved within the port space” for the blast, with out elaborating.
The port is a serious vacation spot for Iranian cargo
Shahid Rajaei has been a goal earlier than. A 2020 cyberattack attributed to Israel focused the port. It got here after Israel mentioned that it thwarted a cyberattack focusing on its water infrastructure, which it attributed to Iran.
Social media movies confirmed black billowing smoke after the blast. Others confirmed glass blown out of buildings kilometers, or miles, away from the epicenter of the explosion. State media footage confirmed the injured crowding into a minimum of one hospital, with ambulances arriving as medics rushed one particular person by on a stretcher.
Hasanzadeh, the provincial catastrophe administration official, earlier instructed state tv that the blast got here from containers at Shahid Rajaei port within the metropolis, with out elaborating. State tv additionally reported that there had been a constructing collapse attributable to the explosion, although no additional particulars have been provided.
The Inside Ministry mentioned that it launched an investigation into the blast. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian additionally provided his condolences for these affected within the blast.
Shahid Rajaei port in Hormozgan province is about 1,050 kilometers (650 miles) southeast of Iran’s capital, Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the slender mouth of the Persian Gulf by means of which 20% of all oil traded passes.
