Blast rocks Bandar Abbas port as Iran, US hold talks in Muscat

The number of people injured in the explosion at Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port has risen to 80, the emergency services spokesman said on Saturday.

Forty of the injured have been transferred to Shahid Mohammadi Hospital, he said.

Fifteen ambulances and four ambulance buses have been deployed from Bandar Abbas, Lar, and Fars provinces, while a medical evacuation helicopter from Larestan has also been dispatched to the scene.

At least 47 people have been injured in the explosion at Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port and transferred to hospitals across Hormozgan province, the local emergency services said on Saturday.

According to Tasnim news agency, all emergency and rapid response teams are currently on site, assisting with the evacuation of the wounded.

Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, head of Hormozgan’s crisis management agency, said investigations into the cause of the explosion are ongoing and results would be announced to the public as soon as possible.

The explosion at Iran’s Shahid Rajaei port was not caused by an ammonia tank, and no fatalities have been reported so far, Iran’s state TV reported on Saturday.

The blast was linked to a container, but it remains unclear what the container held, state media said. A building near the blast site also collapsed, according to the report.

Iran’s customs authority said on Saturday that hazardous goods and chemicals stored at Bandar Abbas port were likely the cause of the explosion at Shahid Rajaee terminal.

The blast occurred about two kilometers from the customs administration building, officials said.

Trucks that had completed customs formalities are being allowed to leave the port area, customs officials added.

Iran’s Mehr News Agency, citing an informed source, reported Saturday that the talks in Muscat are not related to missile issues.

This comes after Reuters reported on Friday that the ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran are not limited to Tehran’s disputed nuclear program but also include its missile program, citing an Iranian official with knowledge of the talks.

According to Reuters, following a second round of talks in Rome on April 19, Iranian negotiators were "persuaded that the US had accepted Tehran's position that it would not entirely end its enrichment program or surrender all the uranium it has enriched already".

However, the official said Iran’s missile program remained a big sticking point. "The only remaining point of disagreement in the general discussions and mutual understanding is the missile issue," Reuters quoted the official as saying.