Gas Leak Caused Blast In Iran’s Bandar Abbas, Iranian Media Say
The explosion in a building in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday was caused by a gas leak, the local fire chief said, according to a preliminary assessment.
Iranian state media reported that at least two people were killed and 14 others were injured in the explosion, which came amid rising tensions between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests and the country’s nuclear program earlier this month.
“This (gas leak) is a preliminary assessment. My colleagues will give more details in the next few hours,” fire chief Mohammed Amin Liakat said in a video published by Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency. he said.
A video posted on social media showed people standing among debris and wrecked cars in front of a damaged building after the explosion.
Reuters was able to confirm the location by analyzing buildings, trees and road layouts that matched satellite and file images. Reuters could not independently verify the date the video was shot.
Four people died after another gas explosion in the city of Ahvaz, near the Iraqi border, according to the state-run Tehran Times. Further information was not immediately available.
Nerves are on edge as TRUMP PUT PRESSURE ON IRAN
The explosions revealed the tense atmosphere prevailing in Iran amid the tensions between the clergy and the Trump administration.
US President Donald Trump said on January 22 that a “navy” was advancing towards Iran. Multiple sources said Friday that Trump is weighing options against Iran, including attacks targeting its security forces.
Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani told X on Saturday that work on a framework for negotiations with the United States was progressing and downplayed what he called “the atmosphere created by the artificial media war.”
Heinrich wrote to X that Trump told Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich that Iran was “negotiating, so we’ll see what happens.”
“You know, the last time they negotiated, we had to take out their nuclear weapons, and it didn’t work. Then we solved it a different way and we’ll see what happens,” Heinrich was quoted as saying by Trump. he said.
Before news of Saturday’s two explosions, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian accused US, Israeli and European leaders of exploiting Iran’s economic problems, fomenting unrest and providing people with the means to “tear the nation apart.”
The semi-official Tasnim news agency said social media reports that a navy commander from the Revolutionary Guard was targeted in the Bandar Abbas blast were “completely false”.
Two Israeli officials told Reuters that Israel was not involved in Saturday’s explosions. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Home to Iran’s most important container port, Bandar Abbas is located on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway between Iran and Oman, where approximately one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil is handled.
The port suffered a massive explosion last April, killing dozens and injuring more than 1,000. At the time, an investigation committee blamed the explosion on failures to comply with civil defense and security principles.
