The firefighters try Monday to overcome a huge fire that has ravaged the largest port of Iran since Saturday, after the huge explosion which left at least 46 dead and more than a thousand injured, according to a new assessment.
Thick black smoke continues to rise above the containers stacked at Port Shahid Rajaï, according to images of state television broadcast on Monday live. Citing an official, the official IRNA agency announced on Monday that the results were now 46 dead, after a previous review of 40 people killed. According to the same source, “1,072 injured left the hospital and 138 are still hospitalized”.
The deflagration, heard tens of kilometers around, occurred on Saturday around noon (08:30 GMT) on a quay of the Shahid Rajaï port, where 85% of goods in Iran pass. After controlling fire, “we will enter the site cleaning phase and damage assessment,” said state television.
This strategic port is close to the big coastal city of Bandar Abbas (south), on the Strait of Ormuz, where a fifth of world oil production passes, a thousand kilometers south of Tehran. The Ministry of Health called for around 650,000 inhabitants of the city to stay at home “until further notice” due to possible toxic smoke. A call for blood donations was launched for the injured.
Negligence or intentional act
Rescue spokesman, Hossein Zafari, deplored the “strong winds” on Monday who make the operation “difficult” for firefighters. The cause of the explosion was not immediately determined, but the Port customs indicated that a fire in the storage of dangerous and chemical materials could be the reason.
The Iranian supreme guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered the opening of an investigation into the incident, to determine if the drama was caused by “negligence” or if it were “intentional”.
The New York Times, citing an anonymous source close to the guards of the Revolution, the ideological army of Iran, had previously affirmed that the explosion had been caused by sodium perchlorate, a substance entering the composition of solid fuel for missiles. The Ministry of Defense said that there was “no cargo (…) for military use in the fire zone” at the time of the explosion.
According to the Washington Post, Israel launched in 2020 a cyber attack against the Shahid Rajai port. The thesis of a sabotage has not yet been mentioned by Tehran for the explosion on Saturday. The explosion coincided with Oman’s holding of crucial talks on the Tehran nuclear program between Iran and the United States, enemies for four decades.
The firefighters are trying on Monday to overcome a huge fire that has ravaged the largest port of Iran since Saturday, after the huge explosion which left at least 46 dead and more than a thousand wounded, according to a new assessment. Thick black smoke continues to rise above the containers stacked at Port Shahid Rajaï, according to images of state television broadcast on Monday. Citing an official, the official IRNA agency announced on Monday that the results were now 46 dead, after a previous review of 40 people killed. According to the same source, “1,072 injured left the hospital and 138 are still hospitalized”. The blast, heard tens of kilometers around, occurred on Saturday around noon (08:30 GMT) on a quay of the Shahid Rajai port, where …
