The massive explosion and fire are said to be linked to the shipment of chemical ingredients used to rock a southern Iranian port on Saturday, producing propellant for missiles, killing eight people and injuring around 750 people.
The helicopter dumped water from the sky in a violent fire hours after the first explosion when Iran and the US met in Oman on Saturday for negotiations with Tehran’s rapidly moving forward nuclear program.
Iran and the US will begin negotiations on Tehran’s advanced nuclear program
No one in Iran suggested that the explosion came from the attack. However, even Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragci, who led the talks, acknowledged on Wednesday that “our security services are on high alert considering past cases of sabotage and assassination operations designed to trigger legitimate responses.”
Iran’s Home Minister Escandar Momeni gave the victim figures in a state television interview. However, there was little detail about what had flare up just outside the Bandar Abbas, where it reportedly burned out on Saturday night and other containers exploded.
Security companies say the port has received the missile fuel chemicals
The port received shipments of “sodium perchlorate rocket fuel” in March, private security company Ambrey said. The fuel is part of cargo from China by two vessels, first reported by the Financial Times in January. The fuel was to be used to replenish Iran’s missile stock, which had been exhausted by direct attacks on Israel during the Gaza Strip’s war with Hamas.
The photo provided by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) shows firefighters working as black smoke rose in the sky after a massive explosion shaking near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, Iran on Saturday. (Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA via AP)
“The fire reportedly was the result of improper handling of solid fuel shipments intended for use in Iran’s ballistic missiles,” Ambrey said.
Ship tracking data, analyzed by the Associated Press, placed one of the vessels believed to carry chemicals in March, as Ambrey said. Iran does not accept shipments. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
It is unclear why Iran did not move chemicals from the port, especially after the 2020 explosion at Beirut port. The explosion caused by the ignition of hundreds of tons of explosive ammonium nitrate has killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6,000 people. However, Israel has targeted Iranian missile sites where Tehran uses industrial mixers to create solid fuels.
Social media footage of Saturday’s explosion at Shahid Rajaei found reddish smoke rising from the fire just before the explosion. It suggests that compounds involved in the blast, like the Beirut explosion, are involved in the blast.
“Go back and come back! Tell me to go to the gas (truck)!” cried the man in one video just before the explosion. “Tell him to go and it’s going to explode! Ah, this is exploding! Everyone evacuation!
On Saturday night, the state-run IRNA news agency said Iran’s customs agency had criticized “stopping stockpiles of dangerous goods and chemicals stored in ports” without exploding.
Air shots released by Iranian media after the explosion showed fires burning in multiple locations in the port, and authorities later warned of air pollution from chemicals such as ammonia, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air. The school in Bandar Abbas will also be closed on Sunday.
Ports Iran’s main cargo destinations
Shahid Rajaei was previously a target. A 2020 cyberattack caused by Israel targeting Israel. It came after Israel said it had thwarted a cyberattack targeting water infrastructure caused by Iran. Israeli officials did not respond to requests for comment on the explosion on Saturday.
Social media videos showed black swirling smoke after the explosion. Others showed glass blown away from the epicenter of the explosion, or miles. State media footage shows that the injured crowd entered at least one hospital and an ambulance arrived as Medic rushed one person on a stretcher.
Hasanzadeh, the state’s disaster management officer, previously told the state television that the explosion came from a container in the city’s Shahid Rajay port. State television also reported that the building collapse was caused by the explosion, but no further details were provided.
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The Home Office said it has begun an investigation into the explosion. Iranian President Masuud Pezeshkian also expressed his sadness to those affected by the explosion.
Shahid Rajay port in Hormozgan province is located in the Strait of Hormuz, about 650 miles southeast of Iran’s capital Tehran, and is a narrow mouth to the Persian Gulf where all of the oil has passed.
