A powerful explosion rocked the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas earlier today. Reports are coming in of more explosions.
A powerful explosion rocked the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas earlier today. The blast occurred in an eight-story building, with parts of the lower floors severely damaged and windows throughout the building shattered.
Hormozgan’s Crisis Management Organisation, noting that investigations into the cause of the Bandar Abbas incident are ongoing, said that following the explosion in a residential complex, 14 people were injured and, tragically, a 4-year-old girl lost her life.
Some unofficial sources have claimed that Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the IRGC Navy, was the target of the incident. Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has denied these rumours as "completely false".
Meanwhile, Israel denied any involvement, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Some domestic sources have attributed the incident to a gas leak, while local reports state that the building was not equipped with gas piping.
While official sources have described the site of the incident as a residential building, videos filmed by passersby minutes after the incident show barbed wire, typically used at military facilities, installed on the compound’s courtyard walls. Meanwhile, the IRGC Navy’s public relations office said that no drone attack has occurred on its bases in Hormozgan and that no buildings affiliated with the force have been damaged.
Similar blasts in other cities
Other reports indicate that sounds of explosions were heard in other Iranian cities, including Ahvaz near the Iran–Iraq border.
The Khuzestan Province’s Deputy for Security and Law Enforcement reported five people killed and two others injured following what he called "a domestic gas explosion" in Ahvaz.
The local governor of Robat Karim county in Tehran province denied reports of a security or military incident in the cities of Parand and Robat Karim, saying that the smoke observed was caused by a fire in dry reed beds along the banks of the Shour River.
Over the past hour, videos showing a large plume of smoke near a residential area have circulated, which are said to be related to the city of Parand on Saturday.
Another video circulating widely on social media is being attributed to an incident in Qom. The footage shows smoke rising along the Amir Kabir Highway on the Kashan road, near a military-related facility (the military service organisation).
Head of Qom Fire Department says "the smoke seen across the city is caused by a waste fire near the reed beds."
However, social network users, pointing to similar incidents during the twelve-day war with Israel, have sarcastically written that it appears there was a “gas leak” in Qom today as well, with a gas pipe supposedly exploding.
Meanwhile, East Azerbaijan province Crisis Management Authority, responding to rumours circulating on social media, said that no explosion occurred in Tabriz today.
Naval exercise reportedly postponed
This comes as the IRGC announced plans to hold a naval drill in the Persian Gulf later this week, a move that prompted a response from US Central Command (CENTCOM), which urged the IRGC to avoid provocative behaviour at sea.
However, Al Mayadeen TV, a network close to Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran, reported on Saturday afternoon that the planned joint military exercise involving Iran, China, and Russia in the Strait of Hormuz has been called off, and that China and Russia will not be deploying any naval forces to the region, at least not until mid-February.