Death toll from Iran's Bandar Abbas port blast rises to 40

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday visited those injured in a huge explosion that rocked one of the Islamic Republic's main ports, a facility purportedly linked to an earlier delivery of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant.

The visit by President Pezeshkian came as the toll from Saturday's blast at the Shahid Rajaei port outside of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran's Hormozgan province rose to 40 with about 1,000 others injured.

Fires kept breaking out in different parts of the affected area as of Sunday night, according to state media, with helicopters and fire fighters continuing efforts to extinguish them.

President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks with a man injured in an explosion. AFP

Chemicals at the port were suspected to have fuelled the explosion, but the exact cause was not clear and Iran's Defence Ministry denied international media reports that the blast may be linked to the mishandling of solid fuel used for missiles.

A spokesperson for the ministry told state TV the reports were "aligned with enemy psyops," saying that the blast-hit area did not contain any military cargo.

Heavy smoke billows at the site of an explosion that took place a day earlier at the Shahid Rajaee port dock. AFP

The Associated Press cited British security firm Ambrey as saying the port in March had received sodium perchlorate, which is used to propel ballistic missiles and whose mishandling could have led to the explosion.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian looks out from his airplane window at the Shahid Rajaee port following an explosion at the port in Bandar Abbas. Reuters

The Financial Times newspaper reported in January the shipment of two Iranian vessels from China containing enough of the ingredient to propel as many as 260 mid-range missiles, helping Tehran to replenish its stocks following its direct missile attacks on its arch-foe Israel in 2024.

DEADLY INCIDENTS 

Plumes of black smoke rose above the site on Sunday and pieces of twisted metal and debris lay scattered across the blast site.

By early afternoon, the head of Iran's Red Crescent Society told state media the fire was 90% extinguished and officials said port activities had resumed in unaffected parts of Shahid Rajaee.

Heavy smoke rises at the scene of an explosion that took place a day earlier at the Shahid Rajaee port dock. AFP

A spokesperson for the country's crisis management organisation appeared on Saturday to blame the explosion on poor storage of chemicals in containers at Shahid Rajaee, adding that earlier warnings had highlighted potential safety risks. Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani cautioned against "premature speculation", saying final assessments would be shared after investigations.

Negligence has often been blamed in a series of deadly incidents that have hit Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure in recent years.

"Did we really have to hold the container here for 3-4 months... until we had 120-140 thousand containers stored in this place?," President Pezeshkian said after arriving in Bandar Abbas on Sunday.

Incidents in the country have included refinery fires, a gas explosion at a coal mine, and an emergency repair incident at Bandar Abbas that killed one worker in 2023.

Iran has blamed some other incidents on Israel, which has carried out attacks on Iranian soil targeting Iran's nuclear programme in recent years and last year bombed the country's air defences.

Reuters