Massive explosion at Iranian port kills at least 5, injures over 700

A massive explosion at the port of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran killed five people and injured more than 700, according to official Iranian media.

Mehrdad Hasanzadeh, a provincial disaster management officer, provided an updated casualty tally during an interview on state television. The previous toll was four killed and more than 500 wounded.

The Mehr news agency posted a video showing CCTV footage of the explosion, which appears to have occurred in a warehouse near the port. Other footage shows aircraft dropping water on the flames caused by the blast.

Debris was spread over a wide area and many buildings at the port complex were badly damaged, according to state media. They said that windows within a several-kilometer radius had been damaged.

According to other reports, individuals were trapped inside a structure that had been reduced to rubble.

The incident occurred as Iranian and US diplomats were in Oman on Saturday for the third round of talks on Tehran's fast expanding nuclear program. 

The region’s governor, Mohammad Ashouri Taziani, said injured people were being transferred to Bandar Abbas medical centers and the fire had been contained. According to official media, the port has been shuttered and all marine activities have been ceased.

Masoud Pezeshkian, Iranian President, has requested a probe into the incident's causes. He reported on X that the interior minister had been dispatched to the region to "examine the dimensions of the accident."

According to state broadcaster IRIB, the explosion occurred near the port's chemical and sulfur areas.

A government spokeswoman, Fatemeh Mohajerani, said it would take some time to establish the cause of the explosion – “but so far what has been determined is that containers were stored in a corner of the port that likely contained chemicals which exploded. However, determining the cause is difficult until the fire has been extinguished.

Shahid Rajaei has been a target previously.  A 2020 cyberattack reported to Israel attacked the port. It occurred after Israel announced it had foiled a cyberattack on its water system, which it blamed on Iran.

Shahid Rajaee is a major container shipping terminal that covers 2,400 hectares (about 5,900 acres). It handles 70 million tons of cargo each year, which includes oil and ordinary shipping. It includes roughly 500,000 square meters (5.4 million square feet) of storage space and 35 shipping docks.

Shahid Rajaei port in Hormozgan province is about 650 miles southeast of Iran’s capital, Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil traded passes.