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9 May 2025
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At least 70 dead in Iran port explosion and fire
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A massive explosion and fire at the Iranian port of Shahid Rajaee has left at least 70 people dead and more than 1 000 others injured. The blast occurred on the morning of Saturday, 26 April 2025 and was reportedly felt up to 50km away. The ensuing fire spread between cargo containers across large areas of the port. Fires continued to burn for several days, and clean-up operations are ongoing. Iranian authorities have reportedly arrested two people, including a government official, in connection with the incident.
Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni announced the fire had been put out, while Hormozgan Gov Mohammad Ashouri Taziani gave the death toll.
The port reportedly took in a chemical component needed for solid fuel for ballistic missiles, something denied by authorities though they've not explained the source of the power that caused such destruction.
The blast Saturday disintegrated a building next to the blast site, which appeared to be in a row where other containers once stood, the satellite photos showed. It also shredded the majority of another building just to the west.
The force of the blast also could be seen, with what appeared to be two craters measure some 50 metres across. Other containers nearby appeared smashed and distended by the explosion and the intense fire that followed.
The fire still burned at the site Monday, some two days after the initial explosion that happened just as Iran began a third round of negotiations with the United States over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
According to BBC reporting, Iran’s interior minister, Eskandar Momeni, said the blast was caused by ‘shortcomings, including noncompliance with safety precautions and negligence’. The Customs Administration reportedly said the cargo that caught fire and exploded had neither been registered nor formally declared before the incident.
Private security firm Ambrey says the port received missile fuel chemical in March. It was part of a shipment of ammonium perchlorate from China by two vessels to Iran, first reported in January by the Financial Times. The chemical used to make solid propellant for rockets was going to be used to replenish Iran’s missile stocks, which had been depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Iranian military denied receiving the chemical shipment.
Social media footage of the explosion saw reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation. That suggests a chemical compound being involved in the blast, like in the 2020 Beirut port explosion.
Only high-level authorities in Iran, such as its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, could circumvent normal procedures at the port.
Source: BBC, Chemistry World, ABC News
Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni announced the fire had been put out, while Hormozgan Gov Mohammad Ashouri Taziani gave the death toll.
The port reportedly took in a chemical component needed for solid fuel for ballistic missiles, something denied by authorities though they've not explained the source of the power that caused such destruction.
The blast Saturday disintegrated a building next to the blast site, which appeared to be in a row where other containers once stood, the satellite photos showed. It also shredded the majority of another building just to the west.
The force of the blast also could be seen, with what appeared to be two craters measure some 50 metres across. Other containers nearby appeared smashed and distended by the explosion and the intense fire that followed.
The fire still burned at the site Monday, some two days after the initial explosion that happened just as Iran began a third round of negotiations with the United States over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
According to BBC reporting, Iran’s interior minister, Eskandar Momeni, said the blast was caused by ‘shortcomings, including noncompliance with safety precautions and negligence’. The Customs Administration reportedly said the cargo that caught fire and exploded had neither been registered nor formally declared before the incident.
Private security firm Ambrey says the port received missile fuel chemical in March. It was part of a shipment of ammonium perchlorate from China by two vessels to Iran, first reported in January by the Financial Times. The chemical used to make solid propellant for rockets was going to be used to replenish Iran’s missile stocks, which had been depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Iranian military denied receiving the chemical shipment.
Social media footage of the explosion saw reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation. That suggests a chemical compound being involved in the blast, like in the 2020 Beirut port explosion.
Only high-level authorities in Iran, such as its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, could circumvent normal procedures at the port.
Source: BBC, Chemistry World, ABC News
