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Iranian authorities say ‘failure to observe safety procedures' at port where explosion killed at least 70 people

Iranian authorities say ‘failure to observe safety procedures' at port where explosion killed at least 70 people

CNN —
Iranian authorities have said there was a 'failure to observe safety principles' at the port of Bandar Abbas, where an explosion Saturday killed dozens of people, but testing is required to determine the causes of the blast.
Eyewitness accounts and video indicate chemicals in an area of shipping containers caught fire, setting off a much larger explosion. The death toll has spiked sharply, with one official telling Iranian state media on Monday that at least 70 have died.
At least 1,000 people were reported injured, according to the Associated Press, citing Iranian state TV. Of those wounded, 190 remain in hospital, said Pir Hossein Kolivand, head of Iran's Red Crescent society.
One surveillance video distributed by the Fars news agency shows a small fire beginning among containers, with a number of workers moving away from the scene, before a huge explosion ends the video feed.
A committee investigating the port explosion released a statement Monday saying that, prior to the blast there had been a 'failure to observe safety principles,' according to state-affiliated outlet Mehr News.
'Determining the definitive cause of this incident requires a complete and comprehensive investigation of its various aspects, which, due to expert requirements, requires technical and laboratory processes,' the statement continued.
The statement also referred to 'discrepancies' in statement given to the committee, but did not elaborate on what these might be or their source.
CNN has previously reported that hundreds of tons of a critical chemical for fueling Iran's ballistic missile program arrived at the port in February. Another shipment is reported to have arrived in March.
Charred merchandise and containers lie at the site of the deadly port explosion.
Meysam Mirsadeh/Tasnim News/AFP via Getty Images
Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said Monday that authorities 'have been made aware of some shortcomings at the port.'
'Safety precautions and passive defenses were not implemented or taken seriously at the port,' he was cited as saying by semi-official Tasnim news, adding that the fire is under control 'but there are certain containers that just need to burn off, but they are controlled and monitored.'
Some people had been summoned as part of the investigation, he said.
The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted an official as saying the explosion was likely set off by containers of chemicals, but did not identify the chemicals. The agency said late Saturday that the Customs Administration of Iran blamed a 'stockpile of hazardous goods and chemical materials stored in the port area' for the blast.
Iran's national oil company said the explosion at the port was 'not related to refineries, fuel tanks, or oil pipelines' in the area.
Iranian officials have denied that any military material was held at the port. The spokesman for the national security and foreign policy committee of the Iranian parliament, Ebrahim Rezaei, said in a post on X Sunday that according to initial reports the explosion had 'nothing to do with Iran's defense sector.'
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Bandar Abbas on Sunday afternoon to investigate the situation and oversee relief efforts, according to state media. The president also met with those injured in yesterday's blast.
'We have to find out why it happened,' Pezeshkian said at a meeting with officials aired by Iranian state television.
The region's governor, Mohammad Ashouri, declared three days of mourning.
Reports of chemical fuel 'for missiles'
The blast comes at a time of high tensions in the Middle East and ongoing talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran's nuclear programme, but no senior figure in Iran has suggested the blast was an attack.
Videos and images from the scene, some of which have been geolocated by CNN, show orange-brown smoke rising from part of the port where containers were stacked. Such a color would suggest a chemical such as sodium or ammonia was involved.
The New York Times reported Sunday that a person 'with ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that what exploded was sodium perchlorate, a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters.'
CNN cannot confirm what was being stored in the area at the time of the explosion and it is unclear why such chemicals would be kept at port for so long.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian surveys the damage of the Shahid Rajaee port explosion in Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Sunday. Authorities were tight-lipped over the cause of the blast, which killed 40 people.
Iran's Presidential Website/Wana News Agency via Reuters
Other experts suggested more mundane chemicals might explain the huge blast.
'This bears the hallmarks of an ammonium nitrate explosion. Ammonium nitrate is a commodity chemical that is widely used as a fertilizer and as an industrial explosive, but it is well known that poor storage can significantly raise the risk of an explosion in the event of a fire.' said Andrea Sella, a professor of chemistry at University College London.
'Material ignites and burns fiercely less than a minute later followed seconds later by the devastating detonation. It is the supersonic pressure wave from that that would have shattered windows.'
But Dan Kaszeta, a chemical weapons expert who reviewed videos from the scene, said reports of sodium perchlorate 'could provide an explanation for how the explosion started, as perchlorates are used in materials like rocket propellant and fireworks.'
'It is difficult for ammonium nitrate to detonate on its own without other chemicals having been part of a reaction.' he told CNN.
Men ride a motorcycle amid the devastation.
Mohammad Rasole Moradi/IRNA/AFP via Getty Images
In February CNN reported that the first of two vessels carrying 1,000 tons of a Chinese-made chemical that could be a key component in fuel for Iran's military missile program had anchored outside Bandar Abbas.
The ship, Golbon, had left the Chinese port of Taicang in January loaded with most of a 1,000-ton shipment of sodium perchlorate, the main precursor in the solid propellant that powers Iran's mid-range conventional missiles, according to two European intelligence sources who spoke with CNN.
Sodium perchlorate could allow for the production of sufficient propellant for some 260 solid rocket motors for Iran's Kheibar Shekan missiles or 200 of the Haj Qasem ballistic missiles, according to the intelligence sources.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry told CNN in February that 'China has consistently abided by export controls on dual-use items in accordance with its international obligations and domestic laws and regulations,' adding that 'sodium perchlorate is not a controlled item by China, and its export would be considered normal trade.'

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China has a valuable card to play as it holds trade talks with the US today
China has a valuable card to play as it holds trade talks with the US today

Egypt Independent

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  • Egypt Independent

China has a valuable card to play as it holds trade talks with the US today

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Champion of the people or a traitor? A new force emerges in southern Gaza
Champion of the people or a traitor? A new force emerges in southern Gaza

Egypt Independent

time5 hours ago

  • Egypt Independent

Champion of the people or a traitor? A new force emerges in southern Gaza

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Israel – and in particular Netanyahu – has never laid out clear plans for what governance and security in Gaza might look like if or when Hamas is defeated. Israel has been trying to find groups or clans opposed to Hamas who might play a role, but more recently Netanyahu and other ministers endorsed a plan put forward by US President Donald Trump for relocating Gaza's residents and redeveloping the territory. A growing role Abu Shabab has had a presence near the ruins of Gaza's long defunct airport in Rafah since late last year. Shehada at the ECFR said that while the ceasefire held earlier this year, his group appeared to vanish. But his significance has grown in recent weeks, since Israeli authorities began to allow a trickle of aid to reach Gaza through Kerem Shalom in mid-May. Abu Shabab's social media presence, along with slick videos and fluent English commentary, has expanded. 'It's nearly impossible this is being done inside Gaza,' Shehada said. 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GHF told CNN on Sunday that it had no collaboration at all with Abu Shabab's group. 'We do have local Palestinian workers we are very proud of but none is armed and they do not belong to Abu Shabab's organization,' GHF said. Convoys and more Last month, soon after limited aid began entering Gaza, Abu Shabab posted that his group had secured 101 trucks of aid, mostly flour, brought in by the World Food Programme, and praised 'my loyal brothers who sacrificed their lives, and everyone who volunteered their primitive weapons or a drop of sweat to feed the bereaved and displaced.' Truck drivers told CNN that Shabab had provided 200 armed men to protect the convoys. 'Our forces regularly accompany aid convoys, and protecting vulnerable civilians is one of our top priorities,' Abu Shabab told CNN. His group's role has expanded beyond protecting convoys. 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Early in May, the far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the population of Gaza, would be 'concentrated' in a narrow strip of land between the Egyptian border and the corridor. A senior Israeli security official said at the same time that the goal was to separate humanitarian aid from Hamas 'by involving civilian companies and creating a secured zone patrolled by the IDF.' This would include a 'sterile area in the Rafah region beyond the Morag route, where IDF will screen all entrants to prevent Hamas infiltrators.' Palestinian branding Abu Shabab's force uses Palestinian insignia and flags prominently on its uniforms, but he told CNN that his 'grassroots forces are not an official authority, nor are we operating under a direct mandate from the Palestinian Authority.' The office of the spokesperson for the Palestinian Security Forces, Major General Anwar Rajab, told CNN there was no connection between the Palestinian security apparatus and Abu Shabab's group. Nor does his family want anything to do with him. 'Leaders and elders of the Abu Shabab family' said in a statement that they had confronted him about videos showing 'Yasser's groups involved in dangerous security engagements, even working within undercover units and supporting the Zionist occupation forces that brutally kill our people.' The family declared its 'complete disassociation from Yasser Abu Shabab' and urged anyone who had joined his security groups to do the same. 'We have no objection to those around him eliminating him immediately; we state clearly that his blood is wasted,' the family statement said. Abu Shabab told CNN that the statement was 'fabricated and false' and accompanied by 'a media campaign targeting me and my colleagues.' He said his group had endured 'false accusations and systematic smear campaigns, and we have paid a heavy price,' also alleging that Hamas had killed several of the group's volunteers 'and members of my own family while we were guarding aid convoys for international organizations.' Yasser Abu Shabab can be seen in this image posted on the Popular Forces' Facebook page. From Popular Forces/Facebook Muhammad Shehada at ECFR said there is evidence that Abu Shabab's presence is expanding with Israeli support into Khan Younis, to the north of his stronghold. Even so, his reach is still limited. The Popular Forces speaks of 'hundreds of daily requests we receive on our Facebook page from individuals seeking to join us,' but analysts believe Abu Shabab probably has only about 300 men under his command. Most people in Gaza would never think of joining him for fear of being branded collaborators, said Shehada. 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Israeli military says it has recovered body of elusive Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar
Israeli military says it has recovered body of elusive Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar

Egypt Independent

time5 hours ago

  • Egypt Independent

Israeli military says it has recovered body of elusive Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar

CNN — The The Israeli military says it has recovered the body of de facto Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar in a tunnel underneath the European Hospital in southern Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) made the announcement on Sunday after the body went through an identification process. Sinwar is the younger brother of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by the Israeli military in southern Gaza in October. His death marks the latest in a string of assassinations that have dealt a serious blow to the group's top brass but are yet to break its grip on power in the besieged enclave. The elusive Sinwar was targeted in a massive airstrike on the hospital in Khan Younis on May 13, a day after Hamas released Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander. At the time, the IDF claimed it had struck 'Hamas terrorists in a command-and-control center' in underground infrastructure at the hospital. But it took more than two weeks for Israel to say that it had definitively killed Sinwar in the strike. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the announcement on the 600th day of the war two weeks ago. 'We changed the face of the Middle East, we pushed the terrorists from our territories, we entered the Gaza Strip with force, we eliminated tens of thousands of terrorists, we eliminated (Mohammad) Deif, (Ismail) Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Sinwar,' Netanyahu said in a speech at the Knesset, Israel's parliament. The attack killed 28 Palestinians and wounded more than 50 others, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said after the strike. This is a developing story and will be updated.

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