A massive explosion at an Iranian port linked to missile fuel shipment kills 4, injures over 500

MUSCAT Oman AP A massive explosion and fire rocked a port Saturday in southern Iran purportedly linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant killing four people and injuring more than others The blast at the Shahid Rajaei port happened as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehran s rapidly advancing nuclear undertaking While no one in Iran outright suggested that the explosion came from an attack even Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi who is leading the talks on Wednesday acknowledged that our protection services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response Port reportedly received chemical for missile fuel For hours functionaries in Iran offered no clear explanation for what caused the blast at the port which is just outside of Bandar Abbas though they did deny that the explosion had anything to do with the country s oil industry However the port took in a shipment of sodium perchlorate rocket fuel in March the private protection firm Ambrey noted The fuel is part of a shipment from China by two vessels to Iran first released in January by the Financial Times The fuel was going to be used to replenish Iran s missile stocks which had been depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip The fire was reportedly the upshot of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles Ambrey revealed Ship-tracking input analyzed by The Associated Press put one of the vessels thought to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity in March as Ambrey declared Iran hasn t acknowledged taking the shipment The Iranian mission to the United Nations didn t right now respond to a request for comment on Saturday It s unclear why Iran wouldn t have moved the chemicals from the port particularly after the Beirut port blast in That explosion caused by the ignition of hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate killed more than people and injured more than others However Israel did target Iranian missile sites where Tehran uses industrial mixers to create solid fuel Social media footage of the explosion on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei saw reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation That suggests a chemical compound being involved in the blast Get back get back Tell the gas truck to go a man in one video shouted just before the blast Tell him to go it s going to blow up Oh God this is blowing up Everybody evacuate Get back Get back On Saturday night the state-run IRNA news agency stated that the Customs Administration of Iran blamed a stockpile of hazardous goods and chemical materials stored in the port area for the blast without elaborating Port a major destination for Iranian cargo Shahid Rajaei has been a target before A cyberattack attributed to Israel targeted the port It came after Israel declared that it thwarted a cyberattack targeting its water infrastructure which it attributed to Iran Social media videos presented black billowing smoke after the blast Others revealed glass blown out of buildings kilometers or miles away from the epicenter of the explosion State media footage demonstrated the injured crowding into at least one hospital with ambulances arriving as medics rushed one person by on a stretcher Mehrdad Hasanzadeh a provincial calamity management official advised Iranian state television that first responders were trying to reach the area while others were attempting to evacuate the site Hasanzadeh noted that the blast came from containers at Shahid Rajaei port in the city without elaborating State television also released that there had been a building collapse caused by the explosion though no further details were offered The Interior Ministry mentioned that it launched an study into the blast Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also offered his condolences for those affected in the blast Shahid Rajaei port in Hormozgan province is about kilometers miles southeast of Iran s capital Tehran on the Strait of Hormuz the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which of all oil traded passes Source