Suspected Chemical Explosion In Iran Kills 5, Injures Hundreds

A massive blast probably caused by the explosion of chemical materials killed at least five people and injured more than 700 on Saturday at Iran’s biggest port, Bandar Abbas, Iranian state media reported.

The explosion, which hit the Shahid Rajaee section of the port, ⅛occurred as Iran began a third round of nuclear talks with the United States in Oman, but there was no indication of a link between the two events.

Hossein Zafari, a spokesperson for Iran’s crisis management organisation, appeared to blame the explosion on poor storage of chemicals in containers at Shahid Rajaee.

“The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers,” he told Iran’s ILNA news agency.

“Previously, the Director General of Crisis Management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger,” Zafari said.

However, an Iranian government spokesperson said that although chemicals had likely caused the blast, it was not yet possible to determine the exact reason.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered an investigation of the incident and sent his minister of interior, who said efforts were still ongoing to extinguish the fire and prevent it from spreading to other areas.

Iran’s official news channels aired footage of a vast black and orange cloud of smoke billowing up above the port in the aftermath of the blast, and an office building with its doors blown off and papers and debris strewn around.

Deadly Incidents

A series of deadly incidents has hit Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure in recent years, with many, like Saturday’s blast, blamed on negligence.

They have included refinery fires, a gas explosion at a coalmine, and an emergency repairs incident at Bandar Abbas killed one worker in 2023.

Iran has blamed some other incidents on its arch-foe Israel, which has carried out attacks on Iranian soil targeting Iran’s nuclear programme in recent years and last year bombed the country’s air defences.

Tehran said Israel was behind a February, 2024 attack on Iranian gas pipelines, while in 2020, computers at Shahid Rajaee were hit by a cyberattack. The Washington Post reported that Israel appeared to be behind that incident as retaliation for an earlier Iranian cyberattack.

Reuters/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma