Iranian port hit with massive explosion, fire injuring at least 400 people

10 hours ago 2

The number of injured from an explosion Saturday at a port in southern Iran jumped to 400, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

IRNA quoted Mojtaba Khaledi, the spokesman of Iran's National Emergency Organization, as giving the figure.

The blast happened at the Rajaei port just outside of Bandar Abbas, a major facility for container shipments for the Islamic Republic that handles some 80 million tons of goods a year.

Social media videos showed black billowing smoke after the blast. Others showed glass blown out of buildings miles away from the epicenter of the explosion.

Authorities have offered no cause for the explosion yet. Industrial accidents happen in Iran, particularly at its aging 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.

Massive explosion rocks port in southern Iran, with cause under investigation

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.

Hasanzadeh said the blast came from containers at Rajaei port in the city, without elaborating. State TV also reported there had been a building collapse caused by the explosion, though there were no immediate other details offered.

Rajaei port is some 652 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.

Meanwhile, Iran and the United States held negotiations in Oman over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program on Saturday, according to a U.S. official and Iranian state television.