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Explosion at the port of Bandar Abbas: 28 dead and more than a thousand injured

A powerful explosion at the port of Shahid Rajai in southern Iran has killed at least 28 people and injured more than a thousand. Sodium perchlorate among the hypotheses on the causes

The death toll in the explosion at the port of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran has risen to 28, with more than a thousand injured. This was announced by the Iranian Red Crescent. In a video published on the government website, the director of the health organisation Pirhossein Koulivand confirmed the number of victims, adding that many people remain in intensive care.

The explosion, which occurred around noon (local time) yesterday, was heard dozens of kilometres away. The port involved is Shahid Rajai, a strategic infrastructure through which about 85% of Iranian goods transit. Located near Bandar Abbas, it overlooks the Strait of Hormuz, a key passage for about one fifth of the world’s oil production.

According to a source linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, quoted by the New York Times on condition of anonymity, the detonation was caused by sodium perchlorate, a substance used as a component of solid rocket fuel. The state news agency Irna, reporting the statement of an official, had instead spoken generically of chemical containers as the probable origin of the incident, without specifying further details.

The dynamics that led to the explosion are still unclear. The Iranian authorities have so far not indicated the possibility of sabotage or a deliberate attack.

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