A massive explosion in an Iranian port that may be associated with missile fuel kills 25, wounds about 800
Muscat, Oman (AP) – The explosion and fires shook the port on Saturday in southern Iran, linked to a charge of a chemical component used to make missiles, killing 25 people and wounding about 800 others.
The helicopters and the aircraft that canceled the water from the air over the raging fire overnight until Sunday morning in the port of Shahid Rajai. The explosion occurred just as Iran and the United States met on Saturday in Amman in the third round of negotiations on the nuclear program, which is rapidly advancing in Tehran.
No one in the explicit Iran suggested that the explosion came from an attack. However, even Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragichi, who led the talks, admitted on Wednesday that “our security services are on high alert due to other cases of vandalism and assassination attempted to stir a legitimate response.”
Government media offered the numbers of victims, saying that the authorities had set only 10 of the dead, including two women.
Meanwhile, state television state reported that the fire was under control and would be completely extinguished later on Sunday. She also said that the activities had resumed in the port, indicating footage of the containers of a commercial ship that is unloaded.
There were few details about what ignited the fire outside the Bandar Abbas, causing another container explosion.
The Embber Private Security Company says the port is chemical for missile fuel in March. It is part of a shipment of ammonium aluminum from China by two ships to Iran, which was first mentioned in January by the Financial Times. The chemical used to make the missile motivation for missiles will be used to renew Iranian missile stocks, which were exhausted through its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“It is said that the fire was the result of an inappropriate deal of a shipment of solid fuel for use in Iranian ballistic missiles.”
In the first reaction on Sunday, Iranian Defense Ministry spokesman, General Reda Tlaenic, denied reports that missile fuel had been imported through the port.
“There was no kind of imported charge and export for fuel or military application (or) at the port site.” He called on foreign reports on unfounded missile fuel.
Ship tracking data that was analyzed by Associated Press was developed one of the ships believed to carry the chemical in the vicinity of the area in March, said Imbry. Iran did not recognize the shipment.
It is unclear why Iran had not transported chemicals from the port, especially after the Beirut port explosion in 2020. This explosion, caused by hundreds of tons of very explosive ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people and wounded more than 6000 others. However, Israel targeted Iranian missile sites, as Tehran uses industrial mixers to create solid fuel.
The social media footage of the explosion on Saturday in the martyr of Rajai witnessed red smoke that rises from the fire before the bombing. This indicates the presence of a chemical compound participating in the explosion, as in the Beirut explosion.
“Go back! Tell the gas (the truck) to go!” A man shouted in one video before the explosion. “Tell him to go, he will explode!
On Saturday night, the state -run -off news agency said that the Iranian customs administration blamed “stock of dangerous goods and chemicals stored in the port area” for the explosion, without a situation.
An air shot issued by the Iranian media after the explosion showed fires burning in multiple locations in the port, with warnings later on air pollution from chemicals such as ammonia, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air. Schools and offices will be closed at Bandar Abbas on Sunday.
The port is a major destination for Iranian shipping
The martyr of Rajai was a goal before. Electronic attacks 2020 attributed to Israel targeted the port. It came after Israel said it had thwarted an electronic attack targeting its water infrastructure, which was attributed to Iran. Israeli officials did not respond to requests for comment on a explosion on Saturday.
Social media videos showed black smoke after the explosion. Others of the glass from the buildings showed kilometers, or miles, away from the center of the explosion. Government media footage showed that the injured crowding in at least one hospital, as ambulances arrived when the paramedics rushed to one person on a stretcher.
Hasanzadeh, regional disaster official, said earlier on government television that the explosion came from containers in the port of Shahid Rajai in the city, without a situation. The State TV also stated that there was a collapse in construction resulting from the explosion, although no more details were provided.
The Ministry of the Interior said it had launched an explosion. Iranian President Masoud Bezishian also offered his condolences to those affected by the explosion.
The port of Shahid Rajai in Hormuzjan Province is about 1050 km (650 miles) southeast of the capital of Iran, Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which 20 % of all passes circulated.
