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Japan Today
30-04-2025
- Business
- Japan Today
Epicenter of explosion at Iranian port tied to charity overseen by its supreme leader
In this photo provided by Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) firefighters work as black smoke rises in the sky after a massive explosion rocked a port near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA via AP) By JON GAMBRELL The explosion that rocked an Iranian port, killing at least 70 people and injuring more than 1,000 others, had its epicenter at a facility ultimately owned by a charitable foundation overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office. That foundation, known as Bonyad Mostazafan, faces American sanctions over it helping the 86-year-old Khamenei 'to enrich his office, reward his political allies and persecute the regime's enemies,' the U.S. Treasury has said. Its top personnel also have direct ties to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which oversees Tehran's ballistic missile arsenal and operations abroad targeting the Islamic Republic's enemies. Those associations come as authorities still haven't offered a cause for the blast Saturday at the Shahid Rajaei port near Bandar Abbas. The port reportedly took in a chemical component needed for solid fuel for ballistic missiles — something denied by authorities though local reports now increasingly point toward a mysterious, highly explosive cargo being delivered there. A bonyad, the Farsi word for 'foundation,' wields tremendous power in Iran. The bonyads take their root in foundations set up by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during his rule. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the shah, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini set up the bonyads to manage those assets, as well as companies seized from supporters of the shah and religious minorities, like the Baha'i and Jews. Bonyad Mostazafan, or the 'Foundation of the Oppressed,' is believed to be the largest in the country by assets, with a 2008 U.S. Congressional Research Service report suggesting it represented 10% of Iran's entire gross domestic product at the time. The Treasury in 2020 put its worth into the billions of dollars. Its network includes interests in mining, railroads, energy, steel and shipping through its Sina Port and Marine Services Development Co. Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show the epicenter of Saturday's explosion struck just next to Sina's terminal at the port, shredding the facility and the containers stacked nearby. Late Sunday, Iran's semiofficial ILNA news agency quoted Saeed Jafari, the CEO of Sina, as saying there had been false statements about the cargo that detonated, which he called 'very dangerous.' 'The incident happened following a false statement about the dangerous goods and delivering it without documents and tags,' Jafari said. He didn't elaborate and access to the site has been restricted by authorities since the blast. Since its creation, Bonyard Mostazafan has been linked to the Guard. Its current president, Hossein Dehghan, reached the rank of general in the Guard and serves as a military adviser to Khamenei. Other leaders in the foundation's history have had direct and indirect ties back to the Guard. The U.S. Treasury separately describes the foundation as having business relationships or cash transactions with the country's police, the Defense Ministry and the Guard as well. 'Mostazafan has de-facto been functioning as the IRGC's 'money box,' whereby its financial assets and resources are made available to senior IRGC commanders, not least to fund terrorist activities,' alleges United Against Nuclear Iran, a New York-based pressure group, using an acronym for the Guard. In sanctioning Bonyad Mostazafan in 2020, the first Trump administration described the foundation as being used by Khamenei to 'line the pockets of his allies.' 'Despite its outsized influence in the Iranian economy, Bonyad Mostazafan operates outside of government oversight and, due to a 1993 decree by the Supreme Leader, is exempt from paying taxes on its multibillion-dollar earnings,' the U.S. Treasury said. The foundation says its affiliated companies pay taxes. On Tuesday, the Treasury issued new sanctions on China and Iran over the transshipment of sodium perchlorate and dioctyl sebacate to the Islamic Republic. Sodium perchlorate is used to produce ammonium perchlorate, a key ingredient to make solid fuel for ballistic missiles. The Treasury identified one individual from an Iranian firm as being linked to the Guard. The Financial Times in January first reported that two loads of sodium perchlorate were coming to Iran from China. Tracking data showed that one of the ships identified as carrying the load was near Shahid Rajaei in recent weeks. The private security firm Ambrey separately said that the port received the sodium perchlorate, which is described as a white, sand-like solid. Iranian Defense Ministry spokesperson Gen. Reza Talaeinik denied earlier this week that missile fuel had been imported through the port. Iranian Cabinet spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani separately described the explosion Wednesday as coming from "human error, probably.' However, no official in Iran has offered any explanation for what material detonated with such incredible force at the site. A reddish cloud could be seen in surveillance camera footage before the blast Saturday. That suggests a chemical compound like ammonia being involved in the blast, like the 2020 Beirut port explosion, in which ammonium nitrate caught fire and exploded. That cloud also resembled one seen in footage from a 1988 massive explosion in Nevada at the PEPCON plant that killed two people and injured hundreds. PEPCON, or the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada, made rocket fuel for NASA and had accumulated ammonium perchlorate that went unused after the Challenger disaster, leading to the blast. Similar reddish smoke could be seen just before a 2013 explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant filled with ammonium nitrate that killed 15 people. Separately, a health warning issued by authorities after the blast warned the public that pollutants like ammonia, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide likely were in the air. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
UK military launches airstrikes with U.S. targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels
This is a locator map for Yemen with its capital, Sanaa. (AP Photo) By JON GAMBRELL The British military launched airstrikes with the United States targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels, officials said early Wednesday, their first attack in Washington's new intense campaign targeting the Iran-backed group. The United Kingdom offered a detailed explanation for launching the strike, in a departure from the U.S., which has offered few details about what it says are more than 1,000 targets it has hit since beginning its campaign on March 15. The campaign, called 'Operation Rough Rider,' has been targeting the rebels as the Trump administration negotiates with their main benefactor, Iran, over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. The UK Defense Ministry described the site attacked as 'a cluster of buildings, used by the Houthis to manufacture drones of the type used to attack ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, located some 15 miles (25 kilometers) south of Sanaa.' Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s took part in the raid, dropping Paveway IV guided bombs, the ministry added. 'The strike was conducted after dark, when the likelihood of any civilians being in the area was reduced yet further,' the ministry said. The British offered no information on the damage done in the strike, nor whether they believed anyone had been killed. The U.S. military's Central Command didn't acknowledge the strike. 'This action was taken in response to a persistent threat from the Houthis to freedom of navigation,' UK Defense Secretary John Healey said. 'A 55% drop in shipping through the Red Sea has already cost billions, fueling regional instability and risking economic security for families in the UK.' The Houthis reported several strikes around Yemen's capital, Sanaa, which the group has held since 2014. Other strikes hit around Saada. The British have taken part in airstrikes alongside the U.S. since the Biden administration began its campaign of strikes targeting the Houthis back in January 2024. However, this new strike is the first to see the British involved in the campaign under U.S. President Donald Trump. The joint UK-U.S. strike follows an alleged U.S. airstrike on Monday that hit a prison holding African migrants, killing at least 68 people and wounding 47 others. The U.S. military said it was investigating. On April 18, an American strike on the Ras Isa fuel port killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others in the deadliest known attack of the U.S. campaign. The U.S. is conducting strikes on Yemen from its two aircraft carriers in the region — the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea and the USS Carl Vinson in the Arabian Sea, targeting the Houthis because of the group's attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, and on Israel. The Houthis are the last militant group in Iran's self-described 'Axis of Resistance' that is capable of regularly attacking Israel. The rebels began their attacks over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli decision to block the flow of aid to Palestinians. The American strikes have drawn controversy in the United States over Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's use of the unclassified Signal messaging app to post sensitive details about the attacks. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
