On this photograph supplied by Islamic Republic Information Company (IRNA), firefighters work as black smoke rises within the sky after an enormous 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 — A large explosion and hearth rocked a port Saturday in southern Iran purportedly linked to a cargo of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant, killing 14 folks and injuring round 750 others.
Helicopters dumped water from the air on the raging hearth hours after the preliminary explosion, which occurred on the Shahid Rajaei port simply as Iran and america met Saturday in Oman for the third spherical of negotiations over Tehran’s quickly advancing nuclear program.
Nobody in Iran outright advised that the explosion got here from an assault. Nevertheless, even Iranian International 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 professional response.”
Iranian Inside Minister Eskandar Momeni gave the casualty determine to state media. However there have been few particulars on what sparked the blaze simply exterior of Bandar Abbas, which burned into Saturday evening, inflicting different containers to reportedly explode.
Safety agency says port obtained chemical for missile gasoline
The port took in a cargo of the missile gasoline chemical in March, the personal safety agency Ambrey stated. The gasoline is a part of a cargo of ammonium perchlorate from China by two vessels to Iran first reported in January by the Monetary Instances. The chemical used to make strong propellant for rockets was going for use to replenish Iran’s missile shares, which had been depleted by its direct assaults on Israel in the course of the warfare with Hamas within the Gaza Strip.
“The hearth was reportedly the results of improper dealing with of a cargo of strong gasoline meant to be used in Iranian ballistic missiles,” Ambrey stated.
Ship-tracking knowledge analyzed by The Related Press put one of many vessels believed to be carrying the chemical within the neighborhood in March, as Ambrey stated. Iran hasn’t acknowledged taking the cargo. The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not 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 a whole lot of tons of extremely explosive ammonium nitrate, killed greater than 200 folks and injured greater than 6,000 others. Nevertheless, Israel did goal Iranian missile websites the place Tehran makes use of industrial mixers to create strong 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 — like within the Beirut explosion.
“Get again get again! Inform the fuel (truck) to go!” a person in a single video shouted simply earlier than the blast. “Inform him to go, it will blow up! Oh God, that is blowing up! Everyone evacuate! Get again! Get again!”
On Saturday evening, the state-run IRNA information company stated 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.
An aerial shot launched by Iranian media after the blast confirmed fires burning at a number of places within the port, with authorities later warning about air air pollution from chemical substances reminiscent of ammonia, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide within the air. Faculties and workplaces in Bandar Abbas might be closed Sunday as nicely.
Port a significant 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 stated that it thwarted a cyberattack concentrating on its water infrastructure, which it attributed to Iran. Israeli officers did not reply to requests for remark relating to Saturday’s explosion.
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 no less than one hospital, with ambulances arriving as medics rushed one individual by on a stretcher.
Hasanzadeh, the provincial catastrophe administration official, earlier informed 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 stated 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 way of which 20% of all oil traded passes.
