A large blast shook the Shahid Rajaee port near Bandar Abbas in southern Iran, causing extensive material damage and injuring roughly 1,000 people. The cause of the explosion is currently unknown.
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At least 40 people have died and about 1,000 others were injured in a large explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port near Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on Saturday.
190 of those injured remain hospitalised, according to a statement carried by an Iranian government website.
The explosion affected offices belonging to the port, and its intensity was sufficient to cause tremors felt in nearby cities, according to domestic reports. The blast also shattered the glass of buildings several kilometres away from the site of the incident.
Iranian state media also reported that there had been a building collapse caused by the explosion, though no further details were offered.
Efforts to control the fire continued on Sunday. State television reported the fire was under control, and said that activities have resumed at the port, showing footage of containers of a commercial ship being unloaded.
However, recent images released by state media also showed the extent of the damage caused by the blast. Footage filmed from a helicopter flying over the scene showed a crater that appeared meters deep, surrounded by charred containers, trucks and cars.
Local authorities warned about air pollution from chemicals such as ammonia, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. As a precaution, schools and businesses in the area remained closed on Sunday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited the injured on Sunday. "We have to find out why it happened," he said at a meeting with officials shown on state television.
The blast at the port comes as Iran and the United States met in Oman on Saturday for a third round of negotiations over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
What caused the explosion?
The director general of crisis management in Hormozgan province, which includes Bandar Abbas, stated that the cause of the explosion remains unknown.
The Customs Administration of Iran blamed a “stockpile of hazardous goods and chemical materials stored in the port area" for the blast, the state-run IRNA news agency said on Saturday.
Private security firm Ambrey reported that the port took a shipment of "sodium perchlorate rocket fuel," in March, which was going to be used to replenish Iran's missile stocks.
"The fire was reportedly the result of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles," the firm said.
Iranian officials have not acknowledged taking the shipment.
No one in Iran outright suggested that the explosion came from an attack. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that “our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response.”
Social media videos showed reddish-hued smoke rise from the fire before the detonation, suggesting a chemical compound may have been involved in the blast, similar to the blast in Beirut in 2020. Black billowing smoke filled the sky following the blast. Others videos showed glass blown out of buildings kilometres away from the epicentre of the explosion.
Meanwhile, state media footage showed the injured crowding into at least one hospital, with ambulances arriving as medics rushed one person by on a stretcher.
The Shahid Rajaee port is a major facility for container shipments for the Islamic Republic that handles some 72.5 million metric tonnes of goods a year.
The Interior Ministry said that it launched an investigation into the blast. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also offered his condolences for those affected.