14 killed, 750 injured in blast at Iranian port

Helicopters dumped water from the air on the raging fire hours after the initial explosion, which happened at the Shahid Rajaei port just as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear programme.

Iran on high alert

No one in Iran outright suggested that the explosion came from an attack. However, even Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led the talks, on Wednesday acknowledged that “our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response”.

Also read: Iran: Massive explosion at port; 4 killed, over 500 injured

Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni gave the casualty figure in an interview on state television. But there were few details on what sparked the blaze just outside of Bandar Abbas, which burned into Saturday night, causing other containers to reportedly explode.

Sodium perchlorate rocket fuel

Security firm says the port received chemical for missile fuel. The port took in a shipment of “sodium perchlorate rocket fuel” in March, the private security firm Ambrey said. The fuel is part of a shipment from China by two vessels to Iran first reported in January by the Financial Times.

The fuel 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.

What caused the fire?

"The fire was reportedly the result of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles," Ambrey said.

Ship-tracking data analysed by The Associated Press put one of the vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity in March, as Ambrey said. Iran hasn't acknowledged taking the shipment. The Iranian mission to the United Nations didn't respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Also read: Iran, US hold talks over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear programme

It's unclear why Iran wouldn't have moved the chemicals from the port, particularly after the Beirut port blast in 2020. That explosion, caused by the ignition of hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6,000 others.

However, Israel did target Iranian missile sites where Tehran uses industrial mixers to create solid fuel.

Social media footage

Social media footage of the explosion on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei 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 Beirut explosion.

“Get back get back! Tell the gas (truck) to go!" a man in one video shouted just before the blast.

"Tell him to go, it's going to blow up! Oh God, this is blowing up! Everybody evacuate! Get back! Get back!”

On Saturday night, the state-run IRNA news agency said that the Customs Administration of Iran blamed a “stockpile of hazardous goods and chemical materials stored in the port area" for the blast, without elaborating.

Also read: Massive explosion, fire in Iranian port city Bandar Abbas: Report

Fires at multiple locations

An aerial shot released by Iranian media after the blast showed fires burning at multiple locations in the port, with authorities later warning about air pollution from chemicals such as ammonia, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air.

Schools in Bandar Abbas will be closed Sunday as well.

Shahid Rajaei has been a target before. A 2020 cyberattack attributed to Israel targeted the port. It came after Israel said that it thwarted a cyberattack targeting its water infrastructure, which it attributed to Iran. Israeli officials didn't respond to requests for comment regarding Saturday's explosion.

(With inputs from agencies)