A massive explosion and fire exploded on Saturday in southern Iran, allegedly linked to the shipment of chemical ingredients used to produce propellants for missiles, kill eight people and injure more than 750 people.
Local disaster management officer Mehrdad Hasanzadeh gave the latest casualty figures in a state television interview. Previous tolls were five people, with over 500 other people injured.
Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/Anadolu via Getty Images
An explosion occurred at Shahid Rajaei port Iran and the US met in Oman on Saturday For the third round of negotiations on Tehran’s rapidly moving forward nuclear program.
No one in Iran suggested that the explosion came from the attack, but even Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araguchi, who led the talks on Wednesday, admitted that “our security services are on high alert considering past cases of sabotage attempts and assassination operations designed to trigger legitimate responses.”
Social media videos showed black swirling smoke after the explosion. Others showed glass blown away from a building several miles from the epicenter of the explosion.
For hours, Iranian authorities did not provide a clear explanation as to the cause of the explosion at a port just outside Bandar Abbas, but they denied that the explosion had nothing to do with the country’s oil industry.
Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/Irna viar AP) 
However, 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. War with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“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 immediately 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 the compounds are involved in the explosion.
“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.
Mohammadrasor Moradi/Irina/Wana via Reuters (West Asia News Agency) 
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.
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.
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.
