STORY: :: Iran Red Crescent via Instagram
Iranian state media on Sunday said the death toll from a powerful explosion at the country’s biggest port of Bandar Abbas had risen as firefighters worked to fully extinguish the blaze.
Dozens of people are now counted among the dead and more than 1,200 are injured, state media reported.
:: April 26, 2025
The initial moments of the explosion were captured in this CCTV footage.
The blast shattered windows for miles around, tearing metal strips off shipping containers and badly damaging goods inside, state media said.
Chemicals at the port were suspected to have fueled the explosion, but the exact cause was not clear.
Iran’s Defence Ministry denied international media reports that the blast may be linked to the mishandling of solid fuel used for missiles.
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.
Negligence has often been blamed in a series of deadly incidents that have hit Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure in recent years.
Iran has blamed some other incidents on Israel, which has carried out attacks on Iranian soil targeting Iran’s nuclear program in recent years and last year bombed the country’s air defenses.
