Iranian state television reported the results of the explosion at the port of Shahid Rajai, near Bandar Abbas, citing local officials.
The fire was still raging on the site, about two days after the initial explosion on Saturday, while Iran started a third cycle of negotiations with the United States concerning its expanding nuclear program. More than 1000 people were injured in the explosion.
The authorities have still not provided an explosion explanation.
Private security company Ambrey says the port has received chemical fuel for missiles in March. It was part of a cargo of ammonium perchlorate from China, transported by two ships to Iran, as reported by the “Financial Times” in January. The chemical product used to make solid propergol for rockets should be used to reconstruct Iranian missile stocks, exhausted by its direct attacks against Israel during the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Iranian army denied having received the chemical cargo.
-Images of the explosion released on social networks have shown reddish smoke rising from the fire just before detonation. This suggests that a chemical compound is involved in the explosion, as during the explosion of the port of Beirut in 2020.
Sunday evening, the Iranian semi-official news agency Iranna Ilna quoted Saeed Jafari, CEO of a maritime service company working in the port, saying that false statements had been made regarding the cargo that exploded, which it called “very dangerous”.
“The incident occurred following a false declaration concerning the dangerous goods and its delivery without documents or labels,” said Jafari.
Another report by the semi-official news agency ISNA also said that the cargo at the origin of the explosion had not been reported to the customs authorities.
Only the high -ranking Iranian authorities, such as the paramilitary organization of the revolution guards, could bypass the usual procedures at the port.
