Four people dead after massive explosion at Iranian port

Shahid Rajaei port in Hormozgan province is some 1,050 kilometres (650 miles) south east of Iran’s capital Tehran on the Strait of Hormuz.

Firefighters work as black smoke rises in the sky after a massive explosion rocked a port near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, Iran,(Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA via AP)

Four people have died after a massive explosion and fire at a port in southern Iran, authorities said.

Babak Mahmoudi, the head of the country’s rescue organisation, made the announcement of the fatalities on state television.

At least 516 others have been injured in the blast at the Shahid Rajaei port just outside of Bandar Abbas, a major facility for container shipments for the Islamic Republic that handles some 80 million tons (72.5 million metric tons) of goods a year.

Smoke rises in the sky as vehicles drive on the road after a massive explosion rocked a port near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran — Smoke rises in the sky after a massive explosion rocked a port near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran (Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA via AP)

Social media videos showed black billowing smoke after the blast.

Others showed glass blown out of buildings miles away from the epicentre of the explosion.

State media footage showed the injured crowding into at least one hospital, with ambulances arriving as medics rushed one person by on a stretcher.

Authorities offered no cause for the explosion hours later, though videos suggested whatever ignited at the port was highly combustible.

Industrial accidents happen in Iran, particularly at its ageing oil facilities that struggle for access to parts under international sanctions.

But Iranian state TV specifically ruled out any energy infrastructure as causing or being damaged in the blast.

Mehrdad Hasanzadeh, a provincial disaster management official, told Iranian state TV that first responders were trying to reach the area while others were attempting to evacuate the site.

Mr Hasanzadeh said the blast came from containers at Shahid Rajaei port in the city, without elaborating.

Black smoke rises in the sky after a massive explosion rocked a port near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran (Meysam Mirzadeh/Tasnim News Agency via AP)

State TV also reported there had been a building collapse caused by the explosion, though there were no immediate other details offered.

The Interior Ministry also said it launched an investigation into the incident.

Shahid Rajaei port in Hormozgan province is some 1,050 kilometres (650 miles) south east 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.

In 2020, a suspected Israeli cyber attack targeted the port.

It came after Israel said it thwarted a cyber attack targeting its water infrastructure, which it attributed to Iran.

The blast happened as Iran and the United States met on Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme.