An enormous explosion and fireplace rocked a port Saturday in southern Iran, purportedly linked to a cargo of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant, killing no less than 14 folks and injuring about 750 others, officers stated.
Inside Minister Eskandar Momeni stated on Telegram early Sunday that there have been “14 dead and 750 injured so far in the explosion,” in response to Agence France-Presse.
Smoke rises after a large explosion that ripped by way of the Shahid Rajaee Port on April 26, 2025. Greater than 500 folks had been reported injured.
Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/Anadolu through Getty Pictures
The blast on the Shahid Rajaei port occurred as Iran and america met Saturday in Oman for the third spherical of negotiations over Tehran’s quickly advancing nuclear program.
Whereas nobody in Iran outright urged that the explosion got here from an assault, even Iranian International Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led the talks, on Wednesday acknowledged that “our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response.”
For hours, authorities in Iran provided no clear rationalization for what brought on the blast on the port, which is simply outdoors of Bandar Abbas, although they did deny that the explosion had something to do with the nation’s oil trade.
Black smoke rises within the sky as automobiles drive on the street after a large explosion close to the southern port metropolis of Bandar Abbas, Iran, Saturday, April 26, 2025.
Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA through AP)
Nevertheless, the port took in a cargo of “sodium perchlorate rocket fuel” in March, the non-public safety agency Ambrey stated. The gasoline is a part of a cargo from China by two vessels to Iran first reported in January by the Monetary Occasions. The gasoline was going for use to replenish Iran’s missile shares, which had been depleted by its direct assaults on Israel throughout the battle with Hamas within the Gaza Strip.
“The fire was reportedly the result of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use 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 didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Saturday.
It’s unclear why Iran wouldn’t have moved the chemical substances from the port, notably after the Beirut port blast in 2020. That explosion, brought on by the ignition of tons of 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 stable gasoline.
Social media footage of the explosion on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei noticed reddish-hued smoke rising from the fireplace simply earlier than the detonation. That means a chemical compound as being concerned within the blast.
“Get back get back! Tell the gas (truck) to go!” a person in a single video shouted simply earlier than the blast. “Tell him to go, it’s going to blow up! Oh God, this is blowing up! Everybody evacuate! Get back! Get back!”
Smoke from the explosion is seen on the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, Iran, April 26, 2025.
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.
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 particular person 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 brought on by the explosion, although no additional particulars had 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 by the blast.
Shahid Rajaei port in Hormozgan province is about 650 miles southeast of Iran’s capital, Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the slim mouth of the Persian Gulf by way of which 20% of all oil traded passes.
Extra from CBS Information
